What i think will happen to Sandrone after 6.3

(6.3 SPOILERS AHEAD)

So we know that Sandrone is being shipped to the Fontaine Institute for repairs. She's very likely still alive as the 6th hidden shadow in the teaser, one of the reasons being that her last notes in her notebook stated that she "iterated on her self preservation mechanics"

I will now attempt to make predictions on what happens after her revival and her story post revival.

What exactly happens in her story content when she returns:

Personally i think it will happen in Fontaine. Her body is there, the institute is there, Neuvilette is there. This would provide opportunities for Neuvi and Columbina to interact (check Bina's voice line about Neuvi. Also they are both related to the primordial sea). As for how she is rebuilt, i think it is most likely that she will simply be rebuilt as a fontainian mek similar to her pre-death body. An alternative would be that something big happens and Neuvi rebirths her as a flesh and blood human, paralleling what happened in the Fontaine AQ with the oceanids being reborn as humans. I don't think this is very likely but it is fun to think about. Since i think it will happen in Fontaine i don't think the possibility of her being reborn as an irminsul puppet ala Raiden and Wanderer to be particularly likely (remember that only raiden knows how to do the khanrian puppet tech)

Vision

I think that when she becomes playable she'll get a Vision. I think she has probably automatically left the Fatui by dying/fulfilling her mission? (you could compare this to wanderer who basically tried to do it via irminsul) As for how she'll get it, i think it will be related to the Narzissencreuz lore, detailed below.

The Four Orthants

The Four Orthants are a thing talked about in the Narzissencreuz WQ series.

They are Memory, Soul, Wish and Persona, mirroring the Four Shades. Merging them would be the birth of "Reason" which would mirror the HP.

Basically i think the way she get her vision is that:

>She is rebuilt, but lost some of her memory

>She tries to regain her memory somehow and embarks on a journey of self discovery along the way. Perhaps, like wanderer, she tries to redeem herself somehow. This is the main content of the quest

>At the climax of the quest, she finally realises her wish, and fulfills the Four Orthants. She already has:

Memory (She remembers her friends and her creator?)

Soul (She is very humanlike compared to the other AIs. There's a line in the AQ talking about how even though she's a machine, in the eyes of her friends she is just as human as the rest of them.)

Persona (Her notes explictly state that she is not Mary-Ann but modeled after him. She is her own independent being)

But she never figured out what she wanted, what her Wish is. This is made VERY clear in the cutscene where she dies.

At the climax of the story, she finally realises what she Wishes for, fulfilling the Four Orthants, and gets a Vision.

Do keep in mind that i have not completed the narzissencreuz WQ yet. If i misses anything feel free to say it.

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Intro

Sandrone is a character that a lot of people are excited about, yet we know little about this mysterious character. She is the Seventh Harbinger (Given the information that Wanderer gave us) and codenamed 'Marionette' and has a thing for automations.

A lot of people speculated that, alongside Arlecchino, Sandrone was going to show up in Fontaine. Again, this was because of her ties to automations and given how technologically advanced Fontaine is.

However, Arlecchino is the only one to appear so far, and it doesn't seem Sandrone has made an appearance yet... Or has she?

The Mary-Ann Theory

A recent theory that's gained traction is the "Mary-Ann Theory"

For lore context, centuries ago, Mary-Ann Guillotin was character, alongside her adoptive-brother Alain Guillotin, Rene de Petrichor and Jakob Ingold, and raised in the Narzissenkreuz Institute by the Vice Director, Basil Elton. Later, all four of them would join the Institute of Natural Philosophy and became members of the Marechaussee Phantoms. Rene and Jakob's research became more and more radical, all the while Mary-Ann went to capture the fugitive elements from the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, which lead to an altercation of Elynas, and the remains of Elynas later the creations of the Melusines. It is unknown if Mary-Ann died or not, or perhaps later, but since this fight with Elynas caused multiple human casualties, I would assume so. Alain would later establish the Fontaine Research Institute, Rene would become Narzissenkreuz, and Jakob is actually still alive.

Now with that important lore out of the way, a theory came up that Mary-Ann is Sandrone. However, an NPC supposedly looking like Mary Ann does shows up in the quest, Ann of Narzissenkreuz, and was accidentally created Ann, a young Oceanid with parts of her memories and dreams.

At first, this is what killed the Mary-Ann theory for me, since this is supposedly what Mary-Ann looked liked, and Sandrone looked nothing like her...

That is until I saw the 4.2 Leaks and particular Photograph during the World Quest:

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In this Photograph, it is said we see Alain and Mary-Ann Guilotin, Basil Elton, Jakob Ingold, and Rene de Petrichor, with an unknown Oceanid behind them. However, in particular Mary-Ann looks exactly like Sandrone, with similar eyes and hair:

It couldn't just be a coincidence, since the characteristics are just too similar - with the blue eyes, similar haircolors, and hairstyle. So, now I believe in the "Mary-Ann Theory", and that Sandrone is Mary-Ann.

Besides that, the Mary-Ann in that quest was a creation by Ann the Oceanid, with parts of her memories and dreams. So it could just be a best attempt to create a lookalike, but not being 100% accurate.

However, this begs the question, if Sandrone is indeed Mary-Ann, how is she still alive and a Harbinger?

Theory 1# - The Puppet Theory

Another theory supporting the "Mary-Ann Theory" is that the Sandrone we see is actually not Mary-Ann, but instead a robotic-look alike created by Alain Guilotine.

This is supported by the idea that Mary-Ann died during the altercation with Elynes, and in his grief and isolation, Alain Guilotin created a puppet in memory of his late sister. It also supported by the fact he was a genius inventor, creating things like the Clockwork Meka. He continued focusing on his research, although the product of it was never revealed and only the traces left behind suggest that he built something. Could this something be the robot lookalike of Mary-Ann.

This also supported by how Alain studied Khaenri'ah machines such as Ruin Garders, and was said a very rigid and serious person, who only seemed to care about his research. These are traits that Sandrone is said to have, being described by Childe as "engrossed in her research". These could be traits the Mary-Ann Robot inherited by her creator.

Another thing to support this theory is that the Marriotte, the title of Sandrone, means "Little Mary" Middle French. Could this be an indication of Sandrone Fontainian origins?

Another lesser thing to support the 'Puppet Theory' is another leak from long ago. However, this is dubious as there is a possibility that this image was fanmade and not actual real. So, take this part with a grain of salt:

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Supposedly, this is a concept art for Sandrone that was leaked months ago. What's noticeable about this leak, is the giant clockwork key behind Sandrone's back. Could this signify that Sandrone is not human but a robot herself? But again, this image could be fake, so it's 50/50 on its use to the theory.

However, there is another theory I propose as an alternative, and it involves Jakob Ingold-

Theory 2# - The Neohuman Theory

We actually do meet Jakob Ingold ingame. He's an NPC and remains alive today as a "neohuman" who has successfully adjusted to the Abyss' power.

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Beforehand, he and Rene were the founders Narzissenkreuz Ordo. This was an organization of radicals that started using to the Abyss' power to survive the predicted flood which will destroy Teyvat. Just prior, this is the same Jakob who explored Narzissenkreuz the Girdle of the Sands in Sumeru, and we some of his and Rene notes. During that time, Jakob became weak, and Rene used the Abyss' power to help him, turning him into a "Neohuman"

Now, looking back at Mary-Ann's story, remember Elynas? During the hunt for Elynas, he started attracting monsters from the Abyss. Later on, Rene and Jakob came to Elynas' body and took some of his blood, which empowered with Abyssal power to become the Iniquitous Baptist.

However, members of the Marechaussee Phantom, including Mary-Ann and her mechanical assistant Seymour, came arrest the members of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, which lead to a fight and an explosion that a massive shockwave through Elynas' body, killing many and the survivors never returned, aside from Jakob and a damaged Seymour.

Again, this is the part where Mary-Ann's fate is unknown, and she supposedly died... But what if she didn't? Remember how it was Abyss' power that made Jakob into a "Neohuman"? Since there was some Abyssal Power in Elynas' body, what if that same power turned Mary-Ann into a "Neohuman" as well by accident? Or even if Jakob use what was there to turn Mary-Ann into a "Neohuman" to save her life (Though, this is less likely, as Jakob thinks Mary-Ann is dead)

But this begs the further question... Why is she now with the Harbingers?

The Harbingers

Now, depending on whether you believe the "Puppet Theory" or the "Neohuman Theory", there are some theories that could explain how Mary-Ann became Sandrone.

If you believe "Puppet Theory", here are some possiblities.

1. The Puppet of Mary-Ann joined willingly as she was convinced to do so. Maybe because she's enemies with the Abyss, which relates back to the Narzissenkreuz Ordo using Abyssal powers.
2. Dottore altered the Puppet of Mary-Ann like he did with Scaramouche. Now for this part, it's a mixed bag. On one hand, we know Dottore can do it, as evident with Scaramouche. On the other hand, it'd be kinda cheap, as again, he already did with Scaramouche, and repeating it seems cheap.

If you believe in the "Neohuman theory", again it may have to do with Mary-Ann being against the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, who are using Abyssal powers to further their goals. This could disgust Mary-Ann, who joined the Fatui Harbingers to fight against the Abyss.

Conclusion

Like I said in the beginning, Sandrone is a character we know so little about. Personally, I believe the Puppet Theory. Whether she shows up in Fontaine is still unknown. What do you guys think? Do you think Sandrone is Mary-Ann? Do you think Sandrone is actually a puppet?

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"The Chinese version of "Childe: Sigil of Permission" refers to Sandrone by their alias 木偶 Mù'ǒu, "The Puppet, Marionette". Take a closer look at the pattern of Kath's outfit and Sandrone base outfit which are very similar.

There are multiple and identical-looking Katherynes exist in Teyvat, "as dialogue in Chapter 2, Part 4 implies the Katheryne seen in Liyue has a connection with the one the Traveler meets in Inazuma", which means that they might all be sharing memories? So Sandrone has been monitoring us from the beginning since mondstadt? She has also been monitoring every nation in Teyvat?

Base on the current leak is that she creates androids from living people. (which is slightly disturbing but fitting for a fatui.) Some of her idle quotes are "Error" and "Rebooting", perhaps the person is still alive inside the body of Katheryne fighting back to regain control??

Hello! I'll try to separate what is proper evidence and what's my own opinion, of course, I could easily be wrong, so feel free to give your opinion or point out things. It is also my first time creating a post on reddit, so bear with me.

1. Nymph's Set

Evidence:

But the hero, victorious over the dragon, will also lose the thing most precious to him during the hunt.

He will never again believe in anything that the sum of human knowledge cannot completely grasp and understand,

And to the end of his days, he shall conceive of a kingdom powered by machines and energies not derived from the elements.

Input:

It mentions the end of his days, alluding that he died in Fontaine.

2. Alain is an absurd genius

Evidence: He created Seymour, a "thinking machine", before he was old (he appears in Neuvilette SQ's alongside Seymour).

He also created Arkhe and the whole Mekka Fontaine.

Input:

Genius don't seem enough to describe him, to me personally he's up there with Deshret. If he was alive this whole time and still researching, wouldn't his tech be ridiculous?

3. Childe and Wanderer VO's about Sandrone

Evidence:

Childe: She always seems engrossed in her research. Hmm... I wonder if those machines have anything to do with her? Anyway, I've only met her a few times, but every time she looked like she wanted to murder me. I have no idea what I possibly could have done to annoy her, though.

Wanderer: She has a terrible personality and cares for nothing outside of her own research. But even with that amount of dedication, she still produced a copious amount of garbage, and could only secure a ranking that's still one whole place beneath my own. How pitiful.

Input: She researches a lot about machines, like Alain would, so if she's Alain, then her tech surely would be amazing? yet Wanderer says "she still produced a copious amount of garbage", making her seem mundane to say the least.

4. Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine (Talochard and Curve Quest)

This is the most important point, and really, the one that gives it all away, I just let it at the end because it needs everything above to make a lot of sense.

Evidence:

Jenck: I've already made a deal with Baulard's supervisor — I find Dr. Mosso's inheritance for them, and they help me take over The Steambird.

Jenck: Plus, Baulard's supervisor serves a real VIP — a Harbinger, hehe...

Euphrasie: By the time he was found, he seemed to have lost his mind. He didn't react to any external stimuli at all, he was just kneeling on the stage of the Opera Epiclese. He looked like... a doll that had just stood trial...

Euphrasie: The Maison Gardiennage folks took him in. When they examined him, they found that his tongue was missing...

Paimon: His tongue!? Oh my... that's... terrifying!

Euphrasie: The Maison Gardiennage also discovered a note in his mouth, it said something to the effect of making amends to you...

Making amends to us?

Euphrasie: You, Paimon, Talochard. Your names were written on the paper. Seems like the person who was backing him wants to apologize to you three...

Euphrasie: It appears they don't want to make enemies out of you. Or maybe they feel quite strongly about what happened to Agent Curve. Those are the only possibilities I can think of...

Paimon: The person behind him... Paimon remembers Jenck said that he had a deal with a Fatui Harbinger... but which one?

Input: In this quest we learn that Sandrone is interested in Curve, an abandoned possibly (later on confirmed) AI. If Sandrone is Alain, then why would Alain be interested in a research he already finished ages ago?

The quest goes out of its way to establish two possibilities behind Sandrone's final actions:

1. She did it to not make enemies out of you

While a completely fair statement, this doesn't give you much, especially if you consider that you did not know for sure if it was her (nor you know a thing about her), the player might know, but the character doesn't. Plus Wanderer's line "She has a terrible personality and cares for nothing outside of her own research".

1. She did it because they "feel quite strongly about what happened to Agent Curve"

This possibility creates an answer that connects everything. What if Sandrone is Alain's final work (as it is implied in Masterpiece's Overture) and is just a machine built in Mary-Ann's image? A complete mecha lifeform? That absurd genius masterpiece. And after Alain died, he left her alone, something that happened with a certain character in this very quest, Curve.

I firmly believe there's a direct parallel that between Sandrone and Curve, that explains the Harbinger actions, both of them could have very similar backstories which explains Sandrone's interest in Curve, of course she could still be only interested in the research, but she went there for a fact, and I doubt the research is that valuable if she's the one behind the Katherynes. We know that Curve only managed to develop proper emotions after his creator died, so maybe that also happened to Sandrone? I doubt, but that's a possibility, especially if you look to Seymour as an AI then, and how at the end of Narzissenkreuz he had his own feelings and wanted to see Mamere again.

Extra:

The Narzissenkreuz's Questline

Through the whole quest line and descriptions in-game (like Nymph's Dream artifact), Alain is mentioned as a "Hero" while Rene is the "Evil Dragon", which draws a parallel to the same sort of "Fate" that happened in Fontaine's AQ, it is mentioned quite a few times like "Narzissenkreuz: It was likely doomed to be thus from the moment Alain had us act out the story of the hero Narzissenkreuz and the evil dragon over and over."

This reads that Alain was a hero, and we know for a fact that he was against Rene's manipulating souls/consciousness, and that was before these actions got his sister killed. Plus, is there even a "piece" left of Mary-Ann's soul? Ann and Mary-Ann (Lyris) only had their pieces because Lyris absorbed them during the Elynas disaster.

I think there's also some hints with Coppelius, but my brain doesn't want to work anymore.

TL;DR Alain's death is alluded in an artifact set, Sandrone still researches and creates failures, while Alain was an absurd genius. Alain had no reason to be interested in Curve's research, as he already managed that feat with Seymour a long time ago. Alain was against Rene's plan to dissolve people's self, even before those actions killed his sister. She's far more likely to be Alain's final creation made in the image of Mary-Ann.

Through Form Is Truth Revealed

"This world is beautiful, more beautiful than you or I can imagine. So go. Do what you want to do, and seek out your own desires, my child. Just remember, your life belongs to you."

— Alain Guillotin's last words

"You would always say nasty things and act indifferent... But I've always known you to be brave, kind, and strong... You will always be my best friend."

— Columbina, bidding farewell to Sandrone's remains

• Name: Sandrone
• Title: Mirrored Analysis
• The Seventh of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers
• Stellar Linchpin: Cryo
• Constellation: Narcissorolegium

This is mainly a Sandrone revival theory but I got distracted and went on a bunch of side quests to talk about other things too. Oops.

TLDR: Sandrone isn’t Mary-ann, she’s an Arkhe AI who became sentient created by Alain named after Mary-ann but with a completely different personality and none of Mary-ann’s memories. Since she is a sentient Arkhe machine, Columbina cannot revive her if she dies (Columbina does not have Arkhe powers). However, a certain someone who does have full Arkhe powers and once knew Alain can probably help.

Rough Content: 

1. Mary Ann is not Sandrone
2. Sandrone is probably a sentient Arkhe AI created by Alain
   1. Irminsul possibility and why it’s unlikely in my opinion
   2. Arkhe, clockwork meka
3. Arkhe, the Greek First Principle, and Tiamat
4. Speculation on Columbina Hyposelenia and why she wouldn't be able to revive Sandrone
5. Why is Neuvi even here, are you sure you're not just talking about him out of severe bias

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Sandrone cannot be Mary Ann. Her personality is completely different (almost the complete opposite of how Mary Ann was described), and we already know the actual Mary Ann ended up merging with Lyris. She also speaks of the Narsissenkreuz Ordo events in a very detached manner, as if she didn’t personally know any of those people. She was only told stories about these events by Alain.

We also know Alain liked making mekas named after close friends (ex: Carter Scherbius).

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How did Alain create Sandrone in the first place?

Here’s 2 possibilities:

1. Irminsul - We know that Raiden created sentient puppets using Irminsul and some unknown Khaenriahn techniques. While we do know that Alain has at least studied a ruin guard, ruin guards aren’t sentient. Additionally, we don’t see the khaenriah ruin guard language design on Sandrone like we do on Pulonia. We also don’t see any Irminsul roots in Fontaine so I don’t know where he would’ve gotten that from. The closest we have to that in Fontaine is the weeping willow, which still isn’t quite the same. Technically Remus also did find actual Irminsul roots/branches at one point where he found Sybilla but I’m pretty sure that location has long been sealed with the rest of Remuria and would’ve therefore been inaccessible to Alain. He was also said to have been holed up in his lab the entire time he was supposedly making Sandrone, and no one knew what exactly he was doing. I find it unlikely that Alain had access to any fragments of Irminsul, and I couldn’t find any evidence he ever studied Irminsul either.

2) Now here’s the possibility that I believe in more - Alain experimented primarily with Arkhe mekas, and a bit of khaenriah ruin machinery. He was the one to develop the Arkhe system for the machines in the first place. The khaenriah ruin machine seems to have ultimately ended up as Pulonia. Meanwhile, the arkhe clockwork meka may have ended up as sandrone (she shares the same wind-up gear design as some other fontaine clockwork meka - gears and springs). 

Clockwork mechanics need to be given energy by a mechanical wind up, and we see this on Sandrone’s winding gear at the back. Therefore I do think Sandrone is based on Fontaine clockwork meka rather than Khaen’riah tech. We already know Alain made a prototype as Seymour, it’s possible he may have finally perfected a living machine with Sandrone. (btw it is also noted that the first clockwork mechanism discovered was from Ancient Greece, which is notable because of the whole Arkhe Greek principle thing)

It is also interesting to note that Sandrone seems less robotic than Ineffa. Of course Ineffa is very much a sentient human-like being but she still has tendencies like stopping to analyze things mechanically. We don’t see any of that from Sandrone on the contrary. Maybe it's the difference between phlogiston AI and arkhe AI, since the primordial sea was more closely associated with life. Maybe the breakthrough that Alain made to go from Seymour to Sandrone was to somehow use Arkhe inorganically in the same way that the primordial sea creates life organically.

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Arkhe and the Greek First Principle

Now let’s talk about Arkhe itself, or rather, “Arche” as it is typically spelled in Greek philosophy (Fontaine has had several instances of replacing Ks with Cs, like Kamera for Camera).

Arche = “the origin” in Greek, the first principle in Greek philosophy

Arkhe in Genshin is called 始基力 in Chinese, essentially origin/fundamental power.

Here's an article on the First Principle (I highly recommend you read this wikipedia article first, I will be referencing it throughout the rest of this theory)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_principle 

A first principle is one from which all others are derived. In math this is “Axioms”, in greek philosophy this is called “Arche”. Oh hey, doesn’t Neuvi have a constellation called “Axiomatic judgement”?

The Wikipedia article on the First Principle also specifically notes that Greek creation mythology was heavily influenced by the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish, which talks of primordial watery chaos that was the origin of all. That’s literally the primordial sea in Genshin. 

In Genshin, before we had Fontaine (France), we had Remuria (Rome, with many Greek cultural influences / Hellenization). Given that Enuma Elish came before Greek mythology, it’s likely that the dragons were more influenced by the things discussed in Enuma Elish. In Enuma Elish, we have a being considered by some to be a dragon who represents the primordial sea, known as Tiamat. 

I’m too lazy to insert a recap of all evidence for Neuvi being Tiamat here, you can ask about it in the comments if you have not read my previous theories on the subject. I do have one additional note though. Did you know Neuvi is never associated with the specific title of Leviathan in the CN translation of his profile? Instead of 利维坦 (Leviathan) it uses 原海巨灵 (big primordial sea creature). That’s probably why “leviathan” isn’t uppercase in the english translation for his profile story about his fake constellation. “Leviathan” just means a big sea creature in Neuvi’s profile, for both his constellation and in his stories according to the CN text.

Given that the Greek first principle Arche refers to the origin, and the primordial sea is the origin in Enuma Elish, it makes a ton of sense that Genshin’s “arkhe” is a property of the primordial sea. Neuvi is Tiamat, representing the primordial sea and having full control over arkhe. 

(All of this connects back to my previous theory regarding pneumousia being light and abyss, and the balance being necessary for the universe, with the primordial sea being similar or the same as the origin of the entire universe even outside of Teyvat. If you haven't read this theory and are curious I can drop a link in the comments)

Arkhe might be what gives the primordial sea its power as the “origin” of life in the first place.

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Sandrone Revival and Columbina Hyposelenia

Great, what does this mean for Sandrone death/revival?

Given the 100 death flags Sandrone raised in the trailer and how she appears to be a shadow in the water for the teaser of upcoming characters, I think it’s pretty likely that Sandrone is gonna die and then get revived. However, since she is only shown as a shadow, I don’t think she’s gonna revive in 6.3. This means that Columbina herself cannot revive Sandrone even after regaining full powers because otherwise she would’ve done so immediately after defeating Dottore in 6.3. This is further corroborated by certain leaks.

Why can’t Columbina revive Sandrone if the moons were known to oversee the cycles of revival according to Neuvi’s profile line about dragon customs? Well, Sandrone isn’t the same as most other normal living beings. She was an artificial Arkhe creation rather than an organic living being, and Columbina has shown no signs of being able to wield Arkhe.

I also don’t think the moons were ever said to specifically be the ones to manually revive people either, they were just stated to oversee the cycles of it happening. It’d be similar to how Aria made the cyclical tides of the primordial sea, but tides at set cycles are different from manually created waves that can be specified. I know Columbina can revive party members in her kit, but so can Dahlia and Barbara so I really don’t know how much that means.

That’s kinda weird though, if the moons were so tied to the primordial sea then why can’t they wield Arkhe? Even the fontainian vision holders who used to be primordial sea lifeforms can do it. Honestly, I don’t really know. All I can say is that their power over the primordial sea doesn’t seem to be as complete as Neuvi’s, especially since Neuvi is the “original god of life” who existed before they did. Neuvi was the natural manifestation of the primordial sea to "pump blood like a heart" according to the fontaine glider, while the moon sisters had to be manually created as temporary overseers of the world while Nibelung was gone.

Perhaps the Kuuvahki that the moon sisters wield is some sort of middleground power that can be used to manipulate multiple powers like phlogiston and primordial sea but not have total control, unlike the original. This would explain why Neuvi’s idle matches the kuuvahki effects on the rain in Nod Krai, and the lunar triquetra symbol looks like a slightly less detailed / more generic version of Neuvi’s primordial sea symbol. It would also explain why Celestia was able to cast the moons out of Teyvat's system but were not able to do the same for the primordial sea, even though they clearly did not want to deal with the primordial sea because they shoved it below the world and freaked out when Egeria tried to use it to make humans.

It also might explain why the original lunar reconstruction project that Kukulkan was doing never ended up succeeding, he may have only had the phlogiston and not the primordial sea (this is all highly speculative stuff though, I don't have strong evidence to back any of this up). Xiuhcoatl would’ve stopped Kukulkan because he knew it was futile without the primordial sea’s power which may have been taken over by Naberius/Egeria by that point. 

The primordial sea was sealed below the world's surface, and Columbina says in the AQ her name Hyposelenia can also mean “below the world”, not just below the moon. Perhaps she was born 500 years ago because Egeria, the usurper heart of the primordial sea died, and the original heart of the primordial sea reincarnated. (Yes I do know Furina thinks Neuvi is older than that, but I don’t trust Furina’s statement on this for several reasons and if you want to hear about it you can ask in the comments). Again, really speculative, I do not have good evidence so if you have stuff that directly counters this I would love to hear it.

In the recent Columbina teaser, we do see that the moon probably should have primordial sea water on it. I don’t see any other reason why there would be water like this on the moon when notoriously water on the moon tends to be ice and unable to float around like bubbles as if the place is underwater.

Side tangent: The place Neuvi is seen in his teaser with the gold wheat fields is not any in-game place in Fontaine right now. This is weird because in every other teaser I checked we can always locate the places they are in-game, whether in the permanent overworld or a temporary domain. My guess is that this location is Mont Esus, and will be a future expansion in 6.X.

That particular scene in Neuvi’s teaser appears to be based on Van Gogh’s wheat field painting: Wheat field with reaper. Van Gogh saw the wheat fields and their harvest as a representation of life cycles and death. Perhaps Mont Esus is where Sandrone will be revived. Mont Esus is also the only location available as an expedition spot but not available for overworld exploration, so I do expect that it will be opened one day.

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Why is Neuvi here?

Okay, but why does it make any sense for Neuvi to be involved in Sandrone’s revival from a narrative standpoint? He doesn’t seem to know Sandrone at all, or be involved in Nod Krai’s story whatsoever. 

Well, Neuvi may have not known Sandrone, but he was very familiar with Alain. Alain appears in the flashbacks in Neuvi’s SQ, and Mary Ann (Lyris) specifically notes how Alain worked very hard with Neuvi during the Narsissenkreuz Ordo fiasco. The few people today who might know the details about Alain and his interest in clockwork machines other than Sandrone would probably be the actual Mary Ann (Lyris) and Neuvillette. Neuvillette in particular is notable again because he literally has full control over Arkhe, the thing that Alain implemented in his clockwork machines.

We also see that Alain presented some of his meka at the Opera Epiclese, and Neuvi remembers this because it shows up in his memories during his SQ.

Finally, to further support the idea that the “First Principles” concept is being used in Genshin, Jakob’s notes in the Book of Revealing specifically note the “fundamental principles” and Rene’s emphasis on them.

The wikipedia article on the First Principle notes that in real life, Rene (Descartes) used the “First Principles” concept to develop his undoubtable truths.

Also in the Narsissenkreuz quest you end up getting Rene’s “Persona” which has the same color as Arkhium, suggesting that yes living personalities can indeed be born from Arkhe.

Okay that's all I got, please tell me if I got anything wrong.

This is a bit of a stretch but hear me out.

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As we have noticed in Liyue, Inazuma and Sumeru (and to an extent in Mondstadt) we do not normally *see* Harbingers until they appear for the final act, only the mechanisms they set in motion. That's the way they operate.

(Childe is an outlier)

Also most of Harbingers' lore so far has been dropped through things in the overworld (Signora's and Scaramouche's stories are in artifact sets, and Dottore's research notes are all over Sumeru. although Scara does get his story told properly too). Somehow we have nothing/next to nothing on Arle's and Sandrone's life before the Fatui so far, which means we likely have something at least on one of them and we just don't know it yet.

Also Arlecchino is all over the plot, so I assume the important Harbinger in this chapter is Sandrone, everything else is an entertaining show to distract us. If she only appears in the final act, it would make sense if her exposition is done through lore tidbits scattered across the map.

1. Framing Childe

I'm building this theory on the idea that the contradictory verdict is caused by Childe's connection to the Primordial sea (I'll eat my HoD artifact set if it's not. not like it's a good set but eh).

So whoever framed him needs to:

1. Know how the Oratrice works (either an engineering genius or they know an engineering genius)
2. Know about the Primordial sea and the Abyss and can identify its traces on a person (a gentle reminder that Vaucher knew about its properties through Jakob and most people didn't even believe him)
3. Have a motive

The combination of the first two *screams* Narcissenkreuz to me.

I assume the motive is destabilizing Fontaine's energy system (since it operates on faith in proper judgement) or political system in general. I wonder who could benefit from it... It isn't too far of a stretch to theorize that it was one of the Harbingers (although this is one of the weak points of my theory, I admit).

So... someone could potentially be a former Narcissenkreuzer and a Harbinger.

We also have Mary-Ann disappearing during that accident in Elynas without a trace. Sus.

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2. Other characters's voicelines

Childe's line about Sandrone is interesting:

She always seems engrossed in her research. Hmm... I wonder if those machines have anything to do with her? Anyway, I've only met her a few times, but every time she looked like she wanted to murder me. I have no idea what I possibly could have done to annoy her, though.

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When it was first added I assumed it was about how clueless Childe can be about the consequences of his actions, but also what if he really didn't do anything (poor boy. everyone is so quick to suspect the worst about him).

We know that Mary-Ann and Alain had a big falling out with Rene and Jakob because of the Abyss research and what they did to Carter. If Sandrone is in fact Mary-Ann, it's possible that whatever Childe is just reminds her of Jakob. Or Carter. Sorry Childe, your existence is just a trigger for the poor traumatised girl.

Also Scaramouche's line about her producing a copious amount of garbage (idk, Scara, Katherynes seem pretty great to me) would make sense beyond him just being rude. Mary-Ann is nowhere near an engineering genius, she has her brother's old designs and theories but that's it.

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3. Things that do not work unless you squint (but I'm squinting hard)

1. They don't look that much alike:

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Squinting: They also don't look that different. Also a lot of years have passed and we have Herta from HSR and the way her appearance shifts slightly with each new puppet.

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1. If Mary-Ann is alive, why did she leave her brother behind? And why didn't she go back for Seymour?

I have no good answer for this, so this is likely proof that Sandrone is not Mary-Ann then.

Squinting: But then maybe she did have some contact with Alain, we just don't know about it. Also maybe she didn't know Seymour was alive, he seems to have been awakened fairly recently by Mamere.

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1. Why did Lyney need to investigate the Oratrice? If at least one Harbinger knows how it functions then what is left there to investigate?

Squinting: Maybe he was trying to tamper with it, of course. Or maybe the Gnosis is in there. Or maybe he's lying and even mentioning it was a way to distract our attention.

Also the Harbingers aren't exactly known for good communication between coworkers.

Also if Arle is, as some theories say, a research product of Narcissenkreuz Institute, it might have put her at odds with Mary-Ann (who tried to separate herself from Jakob), further severing communicaton.

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1. The existence of Ann and the fact that she has some of the Mary-Ann memories implies that Mary-Ann was dissolved too at some point, right? Or was that not necessary? I missed the summer event and I still don't completely understand how oceanids copying someone works.

Squinting: one of the enigmatic pages (XII) talks about transferring dissolved people's consciousness into mechanical bodies, so it's entirely possible that that's exactly what happened. She had her oceanid phase and now she's a pretty mechanical puppet.

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What do you think? Did I miss anything?

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The moment Guizhong's face leaked a few days ago, I was troubled by the uncanny resemblance with Sandrone. Some people wave it off as Mihoyoverse being lazy but I think its more than just a resemblance.I've seen the other thread, and I don't think Guizhong IS Sandrone either.I sincerely think it might be another Raiden Ei/ Shogun situation, where one is the independent puppet of the other.In this document , I list all the evidence and observations that points us towards this being a possibility.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kogyVgBo6zqBuuriIIRmDIYZVxBzRLjlAQxlqv7MGz8/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know if this makes sense, considering the very little information we have about Sandrone up to this point.

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EDIT : Current leaks lead me to believe the first half of my theory is correct.
Now it's all about wether shes modeled after guizhong or not.

I read and noticed that Mary Ann from one fontaine world quest has a eerily similar body model to Sandrone.

Many people claim that she is possibly Mary Ann. But i believe it could just as easily be the corpus of Adult Marry Ann that was turned into puppet by Sandrone.

Her name 'Marionette' (or however it is written) is almost similar to Marry Ann. When i sought opinion from AI as to the literary origin of the suffix 'ette', i got this:

  The suffix “-ette” is a French diminutive, often implying smallness, femininity, imitation, or a lesser form. In the word “marionette”:

  “-ette” emphasizes smallness or artificiality.

My guess is Sandrone was someone close to Mary Ann and has took her corpse and turned her into a puppet (as is her expertise). And if so, the Marionette probably stands for a lesser version of Mary Ann - mere corpus.

She was possibly someone who transferred her consciousness to machines/puppets, and has ability to jump from one system to another, like a software.

That's my theory. If anyone has any corrections or errors to point out, I'd love to hear it.

(excuse me for my terrible English)

So, maybe this theory was already here but since I didn't see it. With some reflection I think than it isn't impossible than Sandrone is disabled, or half.

Now, why do I think that?

1-She looks physically weak. Nothing to develop here.

2-She has a ruin guard who carry her. But she is sitting on its hand, while Lumine is standing on the hand of her ruin guard. So maybe it is because she just can't stay stand (too long)?

3-She creates puppet. That sounds weird but let me explain it : If she creates puppet, that mean she has the control on them. All the control, their minds, their words and their moves, their members. When you create a villain, it is important to give them a reason to their action. In this way, the lector or other can understand them, and in a way, forget them.

So, if Sandrone creates puppet that's mean she controls their move and I think than the reason of that her disability. Because she can moves like she wants, or easily like everyone, she is frustrated because of that, pretty normal. And because of that feeling of weakness, of frustrating, she makes puppet, she has the full control of their bodies, who Compensates the fact than her can't Totally moves her body. Maybe it gives her the feeling of '' The movements of other depends of me. It makes me strong. ''

She is probably 7th or 10th, but to be honest, I though than 7th is a little high to match this theory. I think that she has so many skill for create puppet, that she can create a army who will only listen to her, and that's very good for the fatui.

So, what do you think? It's a little messy, I'm sorry for that, but hope you understood what I mean.

This is a post regarding the Lore of Sandrone. Though it is very speculative (you can only do so much when there are so many blanks to fill), i believe it may hold some water for the future. It will not at all be destroyed by whatever information we get on the first Main Nod-Krai Quest, which is, as of time of writing, coming out in a couple days (this is a joke, it may very well crumble to dust). I hope you like it!

For Those Who Come After (The Context):

Chapter 3 (3.0-3.2 Sumeru AQ);

Tighnari Act 1 (3.0 SQ);

Inversion of Genesis (3.3 AQ);

Nymph's Dream (3.6 Set);

Marechaussee Hunter (4.0 Set);

Chapter 4 (4.0-4.2 Fontaine AQ);

Ancient Colors (4.0 WQ Series);

Ann of the Narzissenkreuz (4.0 WQ Series);

Road to the Singularity (4.1 WQ);

In the Wake of Narcissus (4.2 WQ Series);

Questioning Melusine and Answering Machine (4.2 WQ);

Unfinished Comedy (4.1 WQ Series);

The Journey Home (5.8 AQ).

Nod-Krai is just around the corner (as of writing this, Preload is dropping in a few hours and will demolish half of what is here), and ever since the AQ teaser came out, I’ve come to one realization: I like Sandrone. I really like Sandrone. I don’t know what to tell you, something about this character really resonates with me, and I'm not sure what (that’s actually not true, this happens with every fictional artificial human I even dare to glance at). In the last few days of my life (SEVEN DAYS? SEVEN?) I have made the decision to go on a long journey to finally find out what it is about this french puppet that draws me in. This resulted in a completely healthy amount of thoughts on Sandrone.

That is now your problem. You’re welcome. 

I'd like to apologize if this feels unfocused, i certainly feel like i went a bit overboard and just tried to include everything about this character. It's divided in 5 sections. 1, 2, 3 are dedicated to Sandrone's Origins, 4 about Bob (her Big Robot) Partner, 5 about what the future might have in store for her.

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Time is of the essence, so let’s go in order. Sandrone. Bionic Fontainian Puppet. Between ~450 and ~500 years ago. Kuisel’s Clockwork Workshop (though it didn’t go by this name at the time). Grief. 

Sandrone is a Marionette (say that again?)t crafted by the hand of Alain Guillotin, Fontaine’s Lord-Artificer (we’re gonna be talking about him for a while, but I promise you I'm going somewhere with this). The story of his life is a long one, but really, you only need to know two things: he loved his sister; he loved his robots. And it goes specifically in that order, that’s particularly important. He was a hero! And not only that, he was a genius. Arkhe System, Clockwork Meka, the entire concept of creating Robot OC’s… A fascinating figure, truly. But is that really all there is to him? He was a hero, yes. But as legends say, heroes who stick around for too long might see themselves becoming the villains.

Any paladin must fight for a cause, and this one was no exception: He had to protect the Princess. Alain and Mary-Ann, brother and sister, were inseparable. Two siblings sharing a strong bond? In Genshin Impact? Let me guess, one of them dies? Well, kinda. Mary-Ann “died”, but was brought back by Lyris. Human (with an asterisk, she was Fontainian) and Oceanid fused, creating “Mary-Ann”. For the sake of simplicity, she will be referred to as “Blue Mary-Ann”. Try to visualize two drops of water, A and B, coming together to create C. Once that happens, can you really tell where A starts and where B ends? This is precisely what happened to Blue Mary-Ann, who had the memories of both Mary-Ann and Lyris. This bit is important, so try to remember it for later. One sibling “dead”. What about the other one? To his knowledge, Alain had lost the one most precious to him. Mary-Ann was what anchored him to humanity, and as time passed, he started drifting in the ocean all alone. She was gone. How could he keep going without her? For a while, he tried to figure something out. He founded the Fontaine Research Institute. Praise. Inconsequential. He inaugurated the Mary-Ann Memorial Park. Sympathy. Insignificant. They would express their condolences to him. Insubstantial. They would dare to offer him company, as if they didn’t know it would never be the same as hers. Insufficient. Alain Guillotin was a husk of his former self. And so, he disappeared. The hero chose to let go of the light he had once taken up arms for, and sought the comfort of the darkness.

Shields become Scales, Swords become Fangs

Let’s take a detour to Kuisel’s Clockwork Workshop (originally just Clockwork Workshop, probably). In the Lower Level, we can find a Messy Experiment Report, one written by an unknown researcher. After many attempts, they declare to have achieved the impossible: to transfer an organic mind to an inorganic body (technically never stated to have been a human mind, but the laws of economic storytelling dictate it must be the case). A revolutionary discovery, sure to change the course of history forever! Had its author shared it with the world. But they didn’t. Not in the way you might expect, anyway. And before we jump to any conclusions, we have to address the fact that this was an incredible feat. There’s a reason no other researcher in this region has come close to replicating the results centuries later. As a matter of fact, we get an entire WQ to prove that! It’s true that we don’t know the identity of this mysterious geni- yeah, it’s obviously Alain Guillotin. 

There’s a lot to say about the experiment. First, it took him a long time. He doesn’t seem to have been an active participant in the Fontaine Research Institute, and from that we can extrapolate the idea that he gave up on it soon after its foundation. This would have happened around his 20s, and he is rumoured to have lived until old age, let’s say 70s. That’s around 50 years. He was a genius, yes. Scientific progress is a sluggish process. Besides, he was working alone! Right? Let’s put a pin in that. Moving on, we should determine what the intended outcome of this research was. I’m sure you can guess, but in case, here goes: He was trying to become a robot. The lore is pretty heavy-handed on this, stating that to stop tragedies such as the loss of Mary-Ann from happening ever again, he would resort to the “secrets of machinery”, and “bodies of steel”. Going from that to this research, it’s really not that hard to put the pieces together. 

With all of that, we can finally talk about his two most valuable resources. First one, time. Humans have a deadline, and in this case, the deadline of this project and the deadline of his life were one and the same. With the drawings of his Robot OC pinned to the fridge, failure wasn’t an option. Second one, brainpower. Lots and lots of it. Buckle up, this one’s gonna be a doozy. If he was to go through with this himself, there was no margin for error, the results had to be guaranteed. It’s clear he had multiple test subjects (some are listed in the Messy Experiment Report, but I don't believe that was all of them). Unlike Alain, they weren’t willing participants in this study. Don’t tell anyone, but I've got a feeling this guy didn’t even prepare a document for Informed Consent. In my humble opinion, “possible side-effects include robotization and death” doesn’t inspire confidence, but what do I know? So, we know he had Fontainians coming into his Clockwork Workshop. Did he do the dirty work himself? I don’t think so, and I have two reasons for that. Number one, he wouldn’t be able to pull that off forever. Remember, he was rumoured to have lived to old age, and if we are to assume he was successful at some point, that probably means the old age preceded becoming ageless. Still, 50 years. At the start, he could (not necessarily would, but could) go out to get more testees, but that wouldn’t last. Besides, you don’t have to be the sharpest tool in the shed to know that your joints giving up on you in the middle of a kidnapping isn’t the best idea. Number two, there was a much better way to go on about this. Remember that pin from earlier?After the passing of Mary-Ann, Alain was overcome with grief. He was a paladin who had failed to fulfill his purpose. Could anything ever change that? No matter he tried, the sorrow in his heart made it sink to the darkest depths, where it would become invisible to everyone, maybe even to himself. He thought of a kingdom where no such tragedy could taint the pages of history. Not for  humans, for humanity had brought him so much pain. His parents (all three of them!). The Vice Director. Carter. And now, it had brought him the most unforgivable pain of them all. His kingdom would be one for machines, and she alone would have the right to be its cornerstone.  Humanity’s weaknesses would not take away Alain’s greatest strength. Days and nights, he toiled away, and finally, it was done: A puppet, made in her image. So, Marionette is pretty much a literal coping mechanism. I’m sure there's some questions, so I'll answer the big one and hope that covers them all: Why didn’t he just use Mary-Ann’s memories from Blue Mary-Ann? The main reason is, he didn’t know he could do that. If he ever crossed paths with Blue Mary-Ann, I'm sure she would have memories of it. If he did know about her but didn’t bother, it might be because that technically wasn’t his sister. You remember the water drops, right? Alain would have believed there was no A, only C. The next best thing was an AI (as for why she doesn’t seem to have Mary-Ann’s personality, I hope you like pins, because here’s another one). For an example, you may think of the Thirteen Sovereign Lords, since they were also created as AI. 

As it turns out, there was never a need for the evil dragon to leave his lair. Still, sending Marionette out on these “assignments” had become routine, and that wasn’t ideal. Over the years, I'm sure they had many close calls. And the closest he got to success, the more reason he had to stay inside to protect his hoard, to play it safe. Playing it safe, however, requires time, and he was running out. Besides, “luck” was still a factor. Either his, or that of the ones looking for him. Be it the Marechaussee Phantom, looking to dismantle the whole operation, or perhaps… a Snezhayan Envoy?

The Puppet, the Puppeteer, and the Fool

Well, Marionette had to become a Fatui Harbinger at some point. So, who recruited her? Arlecchino, Pantalone and Tartaglia are too young. Scaramouche couldn’t have been present either. Remember, Alain made Marionette, and he wasn’t immortal (not yet, anyway), meaning it would have been between ~500 years ago and ~450 years ago (Scaramouche was created ~400 years ago). Some older Knave is possible, though I think that’s very unlikely (why would they do that). This leaves Pierro, Capitano, Dottore, Columbina, Pulcinella, and Signora, as all of them would have been enlisted at the time (probably). Checking this short list, one of them sticks out as the most likely to convince a reclusive genius to consider a collaboration.

A group of scholars is called a scholarship (True!). The meeting between the two could have gone in a myriad of ways, we’ll get to that. First, which one of the Six Darshans was Dottore even from? All we know it's one with “nothing in common” with Amurta, the Biology Darshan. In my opinion, there are two options: Kshahrewar and Spantamad. For no particular reason, let’s start with Kshahrewar. He was a heretic with the goal of creating enhanced humans. So maybe robots? This is seemingly very close to what Alain was trying to do. Besides, he experimented on Scaramouche, directed the construction of the Shouki no Kami. He’d have to know his robots, right? Not necessarily. Kshahrewar is all about technology, yes, but not mechanical life forms. Spantamad had that covered (Tighnari’s SQ is all about this, and it discusses the nature of both biological life forms and mechanical life forms, which ties it to Scaramouche and possibly Dottore’s research). And indeed, Zandik and the elements go way back. Aranara, Eleazar, Ley Lines (this is particularly important if his segments are based on Scaramouche instead of based on Marionette, and I think that’s likely, considering his history with him). If you go look for it, you’ll be surprised by the amount of references his story has to the study of the elements. For a heretic, what better weapon is there than the one used by the gods themselves? Other than that, there’s also the fact that all of the Fatui Harbingers have very different roles, if you ignore their generic job description as “diplomats”. If Dottore’s area of expertise was technology, I don't think there’s any good reason he couldn’t just steal Alain’s research and be done with it. Spantamad it is.

Other than the common goal of "enhanced humans” it's also possible to establish another connection between him and Dottore. Arlecchino says so herself: "Compared to, let's say, someone who would go so far as to create segments of themselves to better wander across the land, I suppose you could say she is at the other end of the extreme". Dottore has his original body and copied it multiple times. He seeks omnipresence. Alain destroyed his original body and created a new one. I think what he seeks is omniscience. He might be trying to follow the same principles as the Irminsul. Early in his life, he invented Seymour, a unique Recon Log Mek with an extensive database on various topics. If he was to pick that idea up again and expand on it, he would effectively have an encyclopedic knowledge of Teyvat. Maybe not through memories, but stories. It might have been an idea Alain and Marionette could have tried to capitalize on, at some point. Adventurers have a lot of stories, maybe an Adventurer’s Guild of some kinds? With robot receptionists? Feels like a silly idea, maybe not.

If Dottore approached Alain with all of the help he needed to finally finish his project, I'm sure the offer would have been very tantalizing. I mean, how many times have people approached you with an endless supply of brains? They had similar goals, and most importantly, time was running out. He had nothing to lose. At some point, the drawings of his Robot OC are unpinned from the fridge, and the rest is history. Of this experiment, only traces remained. Just enough to create the legend of Alain Guillotin’s final experiment. Finally, he took his first step on the road to what would become his kingdom. Not as a man, but a machine. As he looked at his reflection on the waters of the land that had once been his homeland, it was not a knight he saw, but a fully-fledged dragon, akin to the one he had fought so hard against once upon a time. 

As a small tangent, let's talk about Coutrot, also known as Kuisel. If we are to take him as a stand-in for Alain, we can pinpoint some of their differences, and extrapolate a lot of information from that. What led Alain to success, and Coutrot to failure? Alain was a genius, wasn’t working alone, and didn’t take stupid risks such as what happened in Road to the Singularity, which also gave him more time to work. Another important note is that despite failing, Coutrot wasn’t a sore loser. He was chivalrous and composed, and those are traits he shared with Alain (we get some of that in The Narzissenkreuz Adventure, which is based on the memories Mary-Ann and Lyris had of him). Regarding their goals, I believe they were the same. My choice to describe Alain’s path as a road was deliberate, he and Coutrot both walk the Road to the Singularity. What if he kept his successful experiments not only as assistants (as he described in his report), but also subjects?

Now settled in “Paradise”, the Marionette becomes Sandrone. Alain is also present at this moment, maybe. I’ve seen people throwing around the idea that he might be Sandrone, and this might surprise you, since I have been glazing him a lot, but the truth is I don't think it matters. He is working in secret, and I believe that the only ones in the know are Dottore and maybe Pierro. Arlecchino, Scaramouche and Tartaglia seem to consider Marionette to be the real deal, so she might as well be. The same can be said about Velimiru, who is “one of her many projects”. He was either created (if android) or modified (if cyborg) by her, so he would be the closest thing we have to a reliable source. This could indicate Sandrone is seemingly the one calling the shots, and Alain is just an assistant. He saw it worked for Carter and Seymour, so why not?

False Freedom

Now, it's time to talk elements. Alain seems to be a good candidate for an Anemo Delusion. His whole deal is basically "From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me", and followed this philosophy until the end of his “life”. From what we know about the inner workings of his mind, I believe that the loss of Mary-Ann was completely devastating for him, and he never felt so vulnerable, so “human”. Instead of finding support in the form of fellow humans, he decided to do something else. If he believed Seymour could serve as a companion to Mary-Ann, why wouldn’t he do that again, when he needed a companion the most? After that, becoming a machine himself was the logical next step. And so, he dedicated body and soul to the machine, eventually discarding the former as nothing but dross, effectively “breaking free” of the shackles that restrained him for a lifetime. That was the plan, it seemed to have no strings attached, he went through with it, all is well. But did he really? As you probably already noticed, no, he did not! He is, as a matter of fact, more “human” than he would like to admit. Let’s check, shall we? Felt love towards Mary-Ann, Rene, Jakob and Carter? 1 point. Felt hate towards Rene after he caused Carter’s Death? 2 points. Felt pain after his sister’s passing (and probably also after Carter’s passing, to a lesser degree)? 3 points. Founded the Fontaine Research Institute (clearly not for resources, otherwise i really see no reason why he would choose to side with the Fatui)? Since their main goal was saving Fontaine, I'll count that as 4 points (even though he gave up on that soon after, that only takes away 1 point). Mr. Guillotine became an expert in the art of Gaslighting of the Self. If it really is him inside Marionette’s Guardian, even if not body, but mind, he is almost as “human” as ever. In a cruel twist of fate, he escaped the flesh prison, just to find himself in a steel prison. 

(Also, he seems to use Anemo in the most recent trailer. So… who knows!!!)

There are still some questions left in the air. What makes a human? What makes a robot? What makes you, well, you? 

Making Her Own Identity

Remember when this was still about Sandrone? Well, that never stopped being the case. There’s just a reason the title includes the word “premature” in it. She has no screentime (outside of teasers and trailers), so the best thing we can do is analyze characters who are directly connected to her (Alain, Ann, Blue Mary-Ann), and characters who, like her, are robots. Mechanical life forms come in all shapes and sizes, but they seem to have something in common: Love (specifically familial love).

CL-08. Created by Xiuhcoatl (Not alone, might have seen her as family). She found Lianca, who was alone. Her first goal was governing Natlantea, but she found a second goal in raising Lianca as one of her own. CL-08 evolved past her original programming, and acquired human emotions. That doesn't mean she abandoned her original goal, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have accepted her trial and consequent execution as she did. The two goals weren’t mutually exclusive. 

Benben. Created by Deshret (Not alone, did not see him as family). He found Jeht, who was not yet alone. His first goal was helping around in Deshret’s Realm, but he later found a second goal in travelling with Jeht. As Jeht wasn't alone yet, Benben left her momentarily to assist other people in Deshret’s Realm, as that was his only goal at the time. Once Jeht’s father died, Benben finally formed a bond with her, and after that point, he never left her side out of his own volition, and did start to help her around. The two goals being mutually exclusive is arguable, since as far as i know, he never left the Great Red Sand (it’s been a while, do correct me if i’m wrong about anything regarding Golden Slumber, i just skimmed through it).

Seymour. Created by Alain Guillotin (Not alone yet, did not see him as family). He found Mamere, who was alone. His first goal was assisting Mary-Ann, but he found a second goal in assisting Mamere. He can do both, he’s a very good boy. 

Curve. Created by Mosso Lombroso (Not alone, did see him as family). He found Talochard, who was alone (bit of a leap, but she had to quit her job as a guide because people found her unpleasant). His first goal was to never tell a lie, but he found a second goal in assisting Talochard. This is a notable exception, as he did abandon his original goal. He had always been designed to do so. He formed a bond with Talochard and lied to assist her, proving that at this point, he was able to go beyond his nature as a robot.

Karkata. Created by Abattouy (Alone, did see him as family). He found Tighnari, yes, but I'm sure you’ve already detected the pattern. His first goal (let’s exclude coffeemaking) was repairing himself, but he found a second goal in repairing his creator. Tighnari didn’t change him, he was already changed by the time they met. The fact that he grew attached to him is just because he was already a fully fledged mechanical life form. 

Scaramouche (pretend I have written all of his names). He’s a very special case, and you’ll notice why soon enough. Ei loses her sister, Makoto, and is overtaken by grief. She creates a puppet based on Makoto (i am not bothered by the screams, nor by the pitchforks and torches). Not on her image, but her Identity. Mind you, this definitely wasn’t intentional, but I do think it's plausible. She was trying to create the ideal Electro Archon, and her heart gave her the answer for who that would have been. So what if, and I know this might already feel like a massive stretch, but what if the reason he felt emotions right away isn’t because Ei was an exception to the rule we established, but precisely because she wasn’t? She was alone, but did she really see him as family? If she didn't, Scaramouche would be right. If she did, I think that’s much more interesting. She saw Makoto’s Identity in him. If he was like her sister, could things be the same again? Could she experience the same love again? If he was like her sister, would things be the same again? Would he experience the same pain, would he end up dead in her arms? Her grief was still an open wound, and she couldn’t take this chance. It’s also why she didn’t have the heart to destroy him. As a mother, she made the painful choice to abandon her child, as she wasn’t able to raise him. Ei sealed away his divine power and left him in the Shakkei Pavilion. She left him a golden feather, not a letter stating she hoped he could live a better life, but the intent was the same. This also gives Abattouy some parallels with Ei, which would make sense, as Karkata has clear parallels with Scaramouche (the third part of his quest is literally called Heart of the Machine, it’s pretty heavy-handed).

CL-11. My personal nightmare. I have absolutely no idea about what’s going on with her. And unfortunately, CL-11 and Scaramouche have a good chance of being the most direct foils to Sandrone. She was created by Xiuhcoatl. Her first goal was governing Natlantea, yada yada yada, you’ve seen this one before. She didn’t find a second goal, per say, but she doesn’t exactly break all of the rules. Natlantea fell, and so, she abandoned her first goal, but it wasn't a choice. She was torn, literally split in two. Part of her wanted to stick with the original directive. Part of her wanted to do something new, find a new purpose for her existence. Since they were at odds, they did separate themselves from one another. Basically, CL-11 malevolent half saw the benevolent half as a “virus”, and got all of the parts of her system associated with her in quarantine, far away from her. Ineffa is way easier, but we’re still talking about CL-11. Her operative system was S.P.I.T.E. She was a Sovereign Lord, one of Xiuhcoatl’s heirs, so you could even consider her a princess of sorts. I wonder if that’s related to anything. 

By the way, Ineffa is basically just Karkata again (Aino didn’t create her core, but she did create her body). 

We have humans and machines, biological life forms and mechanical life forms. They are not the same, but they do have one aspect in common: They have their own Identity. A full package with Soul, Memory and Wish. Your Soul is a bridge between Memories of the past and Wishes for the future, all of which sustain your Identity. Remove one piece, and the whole thing falls apart. We know machines don’t become humans, and likewise, humans don’t become machines, but that doesn’t mean one life holds more value than the other. Mosso sacrificed his life to save Curve, and Curve sacrificed his life to save Talochard. Were these acts not the same? 

Finally, it’s time to talk about Sandrone. Elements are an important factor in characterization, as they determine some guidelines (not as inflexible as fixed rules) for how a character may act. You’ve definitely seen speculation about Sandrone’s element already, with the most popular option being Geo. I don’t disagree with this assessment. Her design has been updated since her first appearance, and it just screams “I LOVE ROCKS!”. So, that means we can work our way backwards (not ideal, but you’re 11 pages deep, you’re not gonna turn back now). Assuming she is Geo, how can that affect her character? She was created by Alain, and her purpose was (probably) to be the cornerstone of his kingdom, its Princess. On top of that, Alain tried to recreate his sister, but unlike Ei, he didn’t recreate her Identity, only her Image. Her Soul, Memories and Wishes are clearly distinct from those of Mary-Ann, but it’s not like she has had any say in the matter so far. 

There’s just one more thing we still have to discuss about Alain Guillotin. He designed the ultimate Turing Test. Take a look at Sandrone, and take a look at Bob (Big Robot). Which one is a human, and which one is a machine? They’re making this hard for everyone, since the human imitates a machine, and the machine imitates a human. In the bond between biological life form and mechanical life form, he is in a gray area, at least for now. He doesn’t seem to love Sandrone for who she is, not yet. And despite his efforts, you have to notice how he’s still way closer to the role of the humans (or melusines). It’s a prison of his own making. 

So, If Mary-Ann came back, would that change anything? If you’ve played through the right Fontaine World Quests, you already know this is bound to happen soon. Ann, Mary-Ann, Seymour (and Mamere) are out to see the world created by Alain, and their paths will definitely converge in Nod-Krai. What happens once Alain realizes Mary-Ann is still alive through Blue Mary-Ann? He would not drop his goals right then and there, I can tell you that for sure. Alain wants his robot kingdom, he literally turned himself into a robot. If he wants his Mary-Ann to be a part of it, a possible option would be transferring her mind to Sandrone. He worked with Fontainians, so I think a Hybrid Oceanid wouldn’t be much of a challenge. The big question here is if Sandrone would accept it. Her whole life, she would have felt her face is a curse she could never remove, a tie to a past life that didn’t belong to her, and shouldn’t belong to her. She is not Mary-Ann, she is Sandrone. I don’t know what Ann and Mary-Ann would think in this scenario (it really depends on how sympathetic they frame Alain), but I'm pretty positive Seymour would agree with her. While discussing with Cater, one of his lines is literally “Past lives do not exist”. It isn’t always true in this world, but it is true for him, and it is true for her. 

Speaking of past lives, it’s time we talk about Scaramouche one last time. I mean, they literally pick this up on the Nod-Krai teaser, there’s no way we don’t get anything around these ideas. Inversion of Genesis is about Wanderer coming to terms with his past life. He tried to erase part of his Identity, and surprise, it all fell apart. He felt incomplete. So, faced with the choice to embrace this past life, he accepted, and became whole. This is not at all what might happen if Sandrone is faced with the same decision. She has no reason to not feel whole, Mary-Ann is not something she lost, it was never part of her to begin with. At most, she might feel wronged for not being recognized as her own person. By having Blue Mary-Ann’s memories transferred to herself, she would lose the chance to be Sandrone. If you still remember the water drops, A and B fusing results in C, and you won’t be able to distinguish A from B anymore. It’s a Ship of Theseus problem with Identities. Brain of Theseus?

We’re getting close to the end (of my rope). Has Sandrone developed beyond her programming? Has she ever felt human emotions? I don’t think so. She has a personality, yes, but so does CL-11 (the malevolent part). Unlike her, she might still retain her original purpose, which is possibly serving as Princess in the Land of Machines, the Heart of the Singularity (if this is the case, we might get something about the Katheryne’s uploading information directly to her). Is Alain like the other people we have discussed so far? He is lonely, that much is certain, but compare him to Ei. If she saw Makoto’s Identity in her puppet, I don't think that’s what Alain saw in his. Sandrone has her Image, but not her Identity, and that makes a world of difference. Sandrone wasn’t his family, Mary-Ann was, and it never clicked for them. Whether he accepts her or not, there’s a chance Sandrone sticks to her first goal, with maybe a reinterpretation. With Seymour and Curve, she could experience a taste of the land of machines. If that doesn’t happen, she might abandon her first goal and end up closer to CL-11, feeling herself divided, but I think this is a bit more unlikely (she is still totally running on S.P.I.T.E.).

Though she was made in an image that wasn’t hers, she would one day claim it as her own. The Marionette would take the strings that once held her, making them her own, and finally walking a path that belonged to no other. Not a human, a machine, but true to herself nonetheless. 

Forgive the title that technically make no sense. But I swear that it's actually fitting. I just really wanted to do a theory about Sandrone because she is so fucking underated and she is one of my favourite.

So, basically, Sandrone is one of those Harbinger that we know the least, however, her personality is said to be
1. Reclusive, according to Arlecchino, she is the one you'll see the least
2. Terrible, according to Wanderer
3. Like most of her comrade, she have no regret to hurt people or even kill them, according to Childe who she probably also want to hurt. Unironically, this is one of the most important statement here.

Also, I'm going with the fact that she is the Harbinger talked about in the Melusine and Curve's worldquest. Because it kinda can be only her-

Anyway

I. Sandrone is a machine

1. Her role, in the Commedia Dell'arte

So, um...I would before like to thank Genshin Impact, for introducing me to the theater's character. Because fontainian's comedy refers to them A LOT. And since I'm the only one in classes that knew the character, I managed to get some respect from our teacher, which is pretty nice.

That aside, the character of Sandrone in the Commedia's is pretty weird. Because he was, well, not only a man, but also puppet. And more interestingly ALL of his family were puppet
The only thing that is seen with Sandrone... Is a modificated Ruin Guard, a machine. And considering her role in the Commedia, what is to say she isn't one either....I know damn well that they are many theories about her being a robot, just let me have my moment

2. Speaking of that big machine I should probably have started by it

So, there is quite a few theories saying that the machine is Sandrone, and the girl is the puppet, which I don't really agree with.
However, I do believe that Sandrone and the ruin guard (I'm going to call it Automate for now, if y'all don't mind) are definitely linked, I personally think that they are like the pretty Fontaine Clockwork boss. Two different robot, but if one is defeated, the other is too. However, I don't really have much proof of this. Since we don't have much info. But I suppose that is why they may be always together, because being separated is dangerous for them. And that also may be why that, like Arlecchino said, she don't appears often.

3. Mary Ann

I'm pretty sure everyone had the same reaction when they saw THAT picture. A little girl, with the same smile, same haircut, hair colors, and face as Sandrone. The reaction of course either being "What the fuck", or "Wait a second... What the fuck"
Or they simply didn't care.
But, there is ONE small problem. Mary Ann is pretty much dead. And her counsciouness was absorbed. But does you know someone who didn't die ? Her brother, Alain Guillotin.
However, Alain is also dead. But he died old, old enough he was able to create Seymour...Who suspiciously share some trait that Curve's had. So, considering his sister is dead. What to say that he didn't make a puppet looking like his deceased sister. Also, Sandrone and Alain have a lot in common, as both like to spend time locked up in their research, and during that time, none of Alain's work as been published. And while it can refers to Seymour, I doubt during that time, he was all he did. (Seymour is great tho, and is quite important for later)
But yeah, I personally think Sandrone may be the work of Alain's before his death.
And while I don't know where to put it, Sandrone clearly have the puppet as a constellation. However, that kind off a weird constellation. And I believe she might be a case similar to Albedo, being that it represent what they are, despite the fact that Raiden and Wanderer doesn't share this. Bnd if she is created by Alain. That would differs her from the latter two, and make her closer to Albedo, since she wasn't created by an archon. But by an human, and while Rhinedottir is certainly powerful, I doubt she was born with god-like power, but instead learned them. Then again, it's true that Ei took inspiration from Khaenri'ah.
However, I believe that is important to explain Sandrone's point of view

II. Sandrone see machine, just like humans (normally) see each other.

1. Her treatment of humans versus her treatment of machines

I'm gong to start it off simple, by saying that Sandrone definitely have something against humans, possibly all of them.
In Childe's Character Tales, they mention a fatui named Javert, that I'm pretty sure actually appeared in game at some point. And they mention something in the description being that this guy had one interaction with the Harbinger, and it was with Sandrone where when he was a new recruit, he was admonished by her. And, while it can show that she is overall rude, which fit her character, other translation use word like "cautionary" which is basically giving a warning, a bit weirder. But then again, it's true that the Harbinger have a tendency to think of the recruit as servant. Although I find it kinda weird that they just, mention that here.

But, there is also her treatment of Jenck, which is more than cruel. He was said that after several day of him being missing, he suddenly appeared in the Opera all tied up, pretty much lost his mind, did not react to anything, and had his tongues cut off. He also is described to look like a doll
And what did Mr. Jenck did ? He destroyed Curve, an automaton.
In his mouth there was a letter of someone making amend, and it is certainly Sandrone, as no one else fit. One of the reason was even said to be because he destroyed Curve, she wanted to apologise. Which is, kind off the opposite of what she was described
Well what if it's because none of the other are machine. And you could say that Wanderer is a puppet, however, he is himself said to be VERY human for one. Which could explain her "terrible personality" according to him.

There is also the voiceline of Childe, which implies she want to murder him. And most people seem to think that it's because he destroyed a ruin guard's lab. And while I agree that I believe she would dislike him for that. I feel like I need to say that she met him multiple time before that, and still wanted to kill him.
I personally believe it's due to her dislike to humanity, the fact that Childe describe the ruin guard as toy, and let's put ourself in her place for a moment. Imagine being a machine, and seeing your collegue tell his little brother that machines that look a lot like the one with you, are toys...It's kinda like saying she herself is one. Which can amplify the hate, there is also probably another reason, but we don't know it yet.

2. Her role in the Commedia....Once again but it's actually more interesting than the first one

Ok, so, the first instance of Sandrone is by Luigi Campogalliani. Who portray him as someone that is ignorant, but with some pretention of wisdom. He was very awkward and have paradoxal opinions. Yet, with some true expected by the viewer
The part about the paradoxal opinions is already kinda interesting to me. Because it may be what the other Fatui think of her, I mean, prefering machines to humans is paradoxal in a way, especially if she is one of them.
But the most common interpretation for Sandrone, is the one from Giulio Preti, who is also Luigi's son-in-laws.
His Sandrone is someone pretty impulsive, sincere. He is rough in the way he act, however, without vulgarity of unkindess. And he is ready to take the side of the weak.
And I believe that how Sandrone act with the machines, because if you look at all the machine, you can see that all of them, in some way, are slave to humankind.. Making them a bit weaker. As a machine herself, Sandrone would take their side, and would resent humanity.
Sandrone is also said not to indulge in all the political stuff. Which seem to also be canon with his counterpart from the game, as she call the arguments between the 3 Harbinger laughable.

Another thing about Sandrone is how he is pretty much the embobinement of socials class, he is basically a peasant at the end of the 18th century. And many of his portrayal show him despising the difference in social classes. One of his portrayal, by Filippo Cuccoli, show him straight up hating the most known and seen personality. Which...Is also a bit accurate of her in the game, since she is certainly the least seen, (and also may be one of the reason she hate Childe, since he is often seen in public enjoying himself).
But, back in the socials classes bit, I believe Genshin may do something similar, being the difference between machines and humans.
Which is why, while in the Commedia, Sandrone is a peasant with some resentment for the higher class, ready to defend the weak.
In the game, Sandrone may be a machine with some resentment for the humans, but show compassion and love to the machines.

Welp, that was longer than I expected- Also sorry for the poor grammar- But if you have a question, you can ask. And I'd like to listen to y'all opinion about it

The tea party table had 7 seats but there are 8 members of the Hexenzirkel

she seems to be disabled and is seated throughout the entire "A Winter Night's Lazzo" trailer she may have always had some sort of assistance and might not have required a chair at the table, as far as how powerful she is if the Fatui rank is any indication she is 7th between Scaramouche and Signora

This theory was originally posted on my Twitter in September of 2022.

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Something I noticed today when fighting the Maguu Kenki—it’s called a marionette. Sandrone is likely its creator.

One of its boss drops is the Marionette Core, which has a chilling description.

And in the Maguu Kenki's archive entry and description:

I wonder just how exactly the “memories” of a swordsman could be used to make an automaton…

As for who said swordsman is, it’s Iwakura (Mikoshi) Doukei, son of Mikoshi Chiyo, beloved friend of the Shogun.

So how and why did a Fatui Harbinger (unknown if Sandrone was part of the organization at that time) go to Inazuma and create an automaton after a famed swordsman?

If Sandrone is the creator, that means she was alive and in Inazuma during or just after the events of the Cataclysm. And what also happened during that time? Ei created Scaramouche and the Raiden Shogun—puppets. Perhaps the two events are related.

Ei’s character story even uses the word “automaton” interchangeably with “puppet”.

It could be that Sandrone is the one who taught Ei how to make Scaramouche and the Raiden Shogun, directly or indirectly. Or, perhaps, her creation is what inspired Ei to make a puppet of herself.

Heya! First post here.

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I have always been curious about her since A Winter's Night Lazzo was released, she's one of the Harbingers with less info available overall. Still, since Wanderer's release and Nahida's brief description of Focalors, I think there's enough to speculate.

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What we currently know about Sandrone, the Character

1. The other Harbingers refer to "her", so she is probably the girl and not the Ruin "Butler". (I am saying this based on the English translation of the game, is this proven wrong/uncertain in the Chinese one?)

Then, in no particular order of importance:

2) Her aesthetic is most likely tied to Fontaine since she and her Ruin "Butler" resemble a lot of Fontaine NPC colors and dressing styles;

3) She is number 7 of the Harbingers, "the Marionette", as stated by Wanderer;

4) She has only ever had (that we know of) negative interactions with the members of the Fatui: Childe says that she looks at him like she wants to "murder" him, Wanderer says she has a horrible personality, and Javert got admonished by her;

5) She is stated by Wanderer to be a researcher, that has "produced a copious amount of garbage";

6) Her aesthetic is also tied to Katheryne, which has been confirmed to be a Snezhnayan bionic puppet by Nahida, which is also the "manager" of the Adventurer's guild in every Nation's main city (as of now);

7) Her constellation is most likely the Marionette suspended by threads.

Sandrone in the Commedia dell'Arte

8) In the Commedia, the character of Sandrone is said to be a peasant who "is crude, clever, and cunning. He is seen as the spokesman of a humble people who are ill-treated, eternally hungry, and always using tricks to make ends meet."

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There's currently a lot of missing information regarding her so I know very well that most of this is done by assuming stuff, like she's not the Ruin Butler, etc. The points above state where I stand currently, if there's something that proves them wrong write it down here!

Also, this list was necessary before you read what's next because I will now quote the points with their number whenever needed.

My take and theory

Sandrone is a spy, sent by Focalors, to keep surveillance of the Harbingers and possibly to steal technology.

A bold claim, huh? It's a fun thought experiment I had going on for a while, and while I myself think it's not a huge possibility, with the current information we have about her, and some information we have about Fontaine that I'll explain later in this post, it checks out.

Constructing the theory

Focalors is known since the 1.5 (I think it was in that patch) Endora event, where Rhodeia said that she wanted Lochfolk to act as spies for Fontaine in other nations. -> Thanks to u/totally-cactus for correcting me on this one, the event was called wishful drops and it was in 1.4, at the end Endora says to the Traveler that the old hydro archon used Lochfolks as spies to "connect the nations" without any ill intent, but Endora doesn't rule out that assassins between Lochfolks can be sent. This doesn't necessarily rule out that Focalors is using spies but it removes a proper confirmation.

Nahida also said that Focalors participates in almost every court case in Fontaine.

And finally, Dain in the Teyvat Travail Trailer says that she "seeks to judge every other god".

At one point in time, it makes sense that, with this information about Focalors, she has at least the desire to try to infiltrate the Fatui.

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And I personally say that getting into the Fatui is not "hard", as we have some backing proof:

- First off, we have seen through Childe that he went from a normal Fatui soldier to Harbinger by showing meaningful results for the Fatui, in his case, his battle prowess;

- Second, we have Pierro that had gone recruiting people from other nations as the first Harbingers;

- Third, we have to consider that due to Pantalone's efforts the Fatui and Snezhnaya are an economic powerhouse, so a Fatui soldier must have decent pay. (however, we only know that Harbingers are rich because Childe clearly states that, I am unsure if normal Fatui soldiers get paid enough);

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Let's assume that, considering all the above, Focalors sends Sandrone (and possibly others), as a spy to infiltrate the Fatui, and since Sandrone is talented at her research/effort has a similar climb to power as Childe, however, it's limited to her peak of capability which is the 7th seat as stated in point 3)... or is it her peak? If you view her through the "she is a spy" lens, she could be very well also hiding her true capabilities in case she is found out.

What would be her accomplishment during her Fatui service time? Her Ruin Guards research evolved into puppet making (something I think Dottore has already mastered since point 5 exists), but that ultimately led to the creation of the Katherynes, which considering point 6, give quests to adventurers, but also receive/send data to Snezhnaya.

Note: Katherine's existence and the adventurer's guild's existence are not necessarily related, Sandrone may be the "creator of the Katheryne" or the "manager of the Katherynes", but not the "manager of the Adventurer's guild".

Katherine has been thought to be human until Sumeru's archon quest, so Sandrone may be as well specializing in making human lookalike puppets as her specialization, which, is perfect for infiltration and espionage since nobody can tell the difference. (I am not considering the "rebooting..." "error!" voice lines of Katheryne to be actually perceived by the actual characters, I think it was more a hint just for the players).

Okay so, to do a little summary: she enters the Harbingers as a spy, specializing in making human-like puppets, and also the Katheryne's "network" is made by her, which is possibly used to collect data about other nations.

Remember I said that she could also be stealing technology from Snezhnaya? Snezhnaya is considered the most advanced nation military-wise, while the other technologically advanced nation is Fontaine, work and utility-wise as we know. Sandrone possesses a network of puppets that can possibly relay information and she is probably the administrator, it should be easy for her to send information to her actual homeland, thus explaining why Fontaine really looks like it is underground an "industrial revolution" period.

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Also, on the Katherynes topic, a bit of a fun fact. Have you noticed what daily commissions we tend to get in Sumeru? "Jump on the mushrooms", "Hit the mushrooms" and "Chase the light", it is very likely that at least one of these three pops in your list every day, and they all seem out of place considering the rest of the commission in the game, especially considering their frequency.

Why does this happen only in Sumeru? It's because Nahida has technically hacked Katheryne and she's probably the one giving those daily to you.

If we extend this to what I said above it could be also viewed as Nahida jamming that Katheryne's signal. And it could also make sense to answer one question I had: how did Nahida specifically know about how Focalors acted in Fontaine when she was caged for most of her life? Yes, for this one it is very possible that she could have simply asked Katheryne to other people from Fontaine, or simply do a memory reading (even she won't do that unless it's a special case like with Dottore or during the archon quest). But it could be also the result of her reverse engineering the Katheryne technology to learn about other nations... or just the memories Irminsul implanted into her after Rukkhadevata's erasure.

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Returning to Sandrone, we know how she could possibly act as a spy, her specialization as a harbinger, and her possible ascension path from soldier to harbinger.

As for why she acts the way she does in point 4, she's hostile towards the other Fatui because of her origin and also because of point 8, Sandrone in the Commedia has a crude character while being clever and cunning (keeping her spy position).

To conclude, all of this fits with her constellation: the marionette with threads, since her position would be that of the spy, "controlled" by another being (in this case the hydro archon, or bound by the Fatui).

Conclusion and Doubts

As I said before, this is more a thought experiment with the information I thought that fits with the view, the story may play out this way with Sandrone or not, so, feel free to debunk or expand this!

The major question while writing this emerged to me is: what if the other Harbingers know about she's a spy? Which would definitely happen at any point if that was the case.

I think that the Harbingers, as seen by how Pierro and Dottore handled Scaramouche's situation, are willing to keep even a spy amongst their ranks until it proves useful and isn't directly trying to harm their "cause", but will try to dispose of inconveniences when they rise.

So, if that's the case the role I think Sandrone will play in Fontaine could be that of running away from the rest of the Harbingers, or she's discovered while staying in Fontaine.

Ironically her role in the upcoming parts, at least for me, is kinda hard to figure out with the current info we have on her.

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But anyways, this is all I have to say about her for now, if I missed something or said something wrong let me know in the comments!

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Edits

I forgot to add one point when writing the post yesterday, which is the weekly boss perspective:

Currently met Harbingers have been either teased (like Dottore) or turned into boss fights, but the number has been increasing progressively: 11->8->6+, with Scaramouche being not faced with his "Harbinger" full power, but as a god, so his power in lore would be more likely closer to the Raiden Shogun boss.

I don't personally think all Harbingers will have boss fights, but we'll be probably increasing in number through the regions, and since Sandrone is number 7 it makes me less likely that we are going to face her in a weekly boss.

Unless...

1) As I stated above, she is hiding her true strength, even without the spy part.

2) We are gonna face two Harbingers at once as a weekly boss.

I feel like compared to the other harbringers Sandrone doesn't get much attention from anyone. I personally look forward to her the most and therefore wanted to share some things I didn't see people talk about much regarding her and expand on others. So I analysed her character a bit and wrote my thoughts down below. (Also forgive my lack of providing images as I'm not very good at formatting reddit posts).

1. Resemblances

So many people jumped on the theory of Sandrone being connected to Guizhong due to their appearance. They look a bit too similar. I still like the theory of Zhongli's contract being connected to Sandrone and Guizhong, and why he agreed to give away the gnosis, but putting Guizhong aside I feel like there is a closer comparison being Lumine. They also share the hair style, color and in the We Will Be Reunited cinematic on YouTube Lumine also rides the hand of a Ruin Guard. Could that make Sandrone connected to the traveler in some way? Of course this quickly falls apart when a player picks Lumine as the traveler, and Aether would be the sibling instead, but I thought it's an interesting observation. (There is the possibility of the puppet changing to a more Aether like boy in game depending on player's traveler choice, which would fit to this little theory thing, but we will see). I feel like there is more to the similar appearance, as so far Genshin characters are pretty unique from each other, and those 3 specifically resembling each other feels suspicious.

1. Fatui Numbering

We know Sandrone is the seventh harbinger, one below Scaramouche. A puppeteer that makes puppets being one lower than a puppet? I wonder why. Does he have something special about him due to being made by Ei? I assume they used a similar technique, and Ei made a puppet with god power sealed within, but not strong enough to be in top 3 harbringers that Nahida said can rival gods in power. Also I find it strange that they used Dottore as the main villain for Scaramouche and him being the one tinkering, when they had a puppet maker harbringer the entire time. Is it an intentional lore reason, or maybe they just want Dottore to be the big bad, and Sandrone got the short end of the stick? This also reminded me that Dottore is a master at making robots and augmenting people with robotics. What role does Sandrone play, assuming she is not just a worse Dottore.

1. The Ruin Guard vs The Girl

Now I have been referring to Sandrone as she the entire time, but we are not sure if Sandrone is the ruin guard or the girl (assumed to be a puppet herself). I personally think that it's the puppet, as it fits the character archetype better. Also she is the one talking and emoting, while the ruin guard just kinda stands there, and Sandrone's fatui title is the puppet, so I think it fits that she is literally the puppet (it also fits having the puppet on strings constellation). They could go a different direction with her that the robot is acting through the puppet as well, but I think it's less likely. An additional random remark I wanted to add was that, at least in my opinion, the ruin guard's outfit feels inspired by Fontaine. Apparently she may appear in Fontaine, so maybe this is significant?

1. Katheryne

So the resemblance is quite obvious between Sandrone's and Katheryne's clothing. We also know that Katheryne is a Shneznayan puppet. This makes an easy to see connection between the harbringer and the adventurers guild. Maybe Sandrone's role in the fatui is gathering intelligence, which is what sets her up from Dottore regarding what I wrote earlier. With the Traveler being a big player in the Adventurers Guild, I assume we will have to meet her at some point and I doubt we will fight her, since that technically makes us and Sandrone's allies, considering she indirectly pays us, gives us work, and her puppets guide us to a lot of the important quests. She is basically our boss and she could likely control our involvement in the guild if she wanted to.

1. Paying respect to Signora

This one is a random observation but it feels significant. When everyone was gathered around the coffin and bowing in the cinematic Sandrone is the only one to not close her eyes. May this be significant to anything or just a little detail relevant to the character? Both Wanderer and Childe mention in their voice lines that Sandrone is rather rude and doesn't care about anything besides the research. Still, if the intention was to show that characteristic, they could have have her not bow at all. Maybe they did it to show the puppet emoting to signify she is the harbringer? A more lore approach would be to think that, while she doesn't care, she still wanted to look respectful. May she be scared of another harbringer or want to look respectful to Pierro? I'm specifically mentioning Pierro as she was ridiculing the conversation between the harbringers, but shows respect to Signora after Pierro arrives. This is a very vague detail so there is room for speculation on why they chose to add it.

Now sorry if this post is a bit all over the place and poorly formatted. This is my first time making a post here and I'm not fully confident if this fits the subreddit, but I had some thoughts I wanted to share somewhere. I'm sure there can be more information gathered from someone more versed in the lore, knowing about the comedia del arte, or having more information from leaks, so I'm looking forward to anyone sharing any additional information.

This theory will contain spoilers from quest 3.0.

At the end of the quest, we found out that Katheryne is actually a bio robot from Snezhnaya. As many have already suggested, the creator of the puppet is Sandrone or Marionetta. Moreover, I believe that Sandrone has already contacted us.

The first question is why Sandrone is creator of Katheryne and not Alice? The answer is quite simple - Katheryne is called a puppet from Snezhnaya. Unless Alice is supplying Snezhnaya with technology, such an assumption is inappropriate.

The second question is, why can we say that it was Sandrone who created Katheryne's model?

Sandrone herself looks very similar to other Katheryne's. Of course, there is a possibility that Sandrone herself was created by someone, or modified from a human into a cyborg. And now, for one reason or another, she creates copies of herself.

This reminds me of the story of Kiel Hyre and Kiel jr from Ragnarok Online. Kiel was a scientist who "created" his son Kiel Jr. He treated him like a son and taught him everything he knew. Kiel Jr himself using his knowledge, created a new type of bio-robots that surpassed all Kiel's creations. However, Kiel Jr. soon began to create not just bio-robots that could be similar to him, but real robots that should be considered as deadly weapons. In the Manor of Hyre, Kiel Jr. created secret rooms and underground passages in which he conducted his research. After Kiel Hyre found out about the creations of his "son", a conflict arose with a sad outcome.

I think that Sandrone (Marionette) herself can be similar to Kiel Jr. She can be either a modified human or a cyborg that was created by science. Albedo is also an artificially created person, so Sandrone can also be artificially created. And like Kiel, like Albedo, she is very interested in the issue of creating life, which led to the creation of her copies - the model of Katheryne.

Judging by the leaks, we'll meet Sandrone in Fontaine. And although she seems to be a weaker harbinger than Scaramochi(due her possible number), thanks to her puppets, she can turn out to be a much more serious problem.

What might this mean for us in the future?

Kiel, which I already mentioned, created as a model of bio-robots called Alice. Some Allice's prototype robots were harmless, but other models of Alice were deadly. Katheryne's prototype reminds me a lot of Alice. Perhaps in Fontaine we will meet with the combat-type models of Katheryne.

Tartaglia mentioned that Sandrone is very fond of messing with her "machines", which she constantly modifies - this hints that Sandrone could not just limit herself to harmless robots, so each new Kath model will be even more dangerous and deadly

What does Sandrone herself achieve? It is difficult to say, so far she has been studying the Traveler, giving him new assignments through Katheryne, analyzing his strengths and weaknesses. This suggests that this time the enemy will be much more serious than anyone else, and battle with her will bring big changes. Can Katheryne be replaced by real people in the Adventurers Guild? We can only guess about this now, but what one can be sure of is that Sandrone is already closely following the Traveler.

In the archon's quest, when we ran into Katheryne, she mentioned watching movies from Fontaine. Kusanali, even though she is Dendro Archon, cannot know about the films. Judging by her words about tears, she still has a poor understanding of human nature. Then how could Katheryne have mentioned Fontaine's movies? There is only one answer - Sandrone connected to Katheryne's system. Yes, we talked to Sandrone herself! But I am sure this was not our last contact with her in Sumeru. Soon, Sandrone herself will invite us to Fontaine and it will be a real deadly challenge for the Traveler.

Anyway, I'm really curious on your thoughts? Are you agree with me, or maybe I'm wrong.

in the newest live stream we saw the story of a little "melusine"

But the historical and literary melusine was more of what we think of as traditional mermaids, having a lower half of a fish or a serpent and in France the French Lusignan royal house was said to be descendants from the half fae melusine.

" The fairy Melusina, also, who married Guy de Lusignan, Count of Poitou, under condition that he should never attempt to intrude upon her privacy, was of this latter class. She bore the count many children, and erected for him a magnificent castle by her magical art. Their harmony was uninterrupted until the prying husband broke the conditions of their union, by concealing himself to behold his wife make use of her enchanted bath. Hardly had Melusina discovered the indiscreet intruder, than, transforming herself into a dragon, she departed with a loud yell of lamentation, and was never again visible to mortal eyes; although, even in the days of Brantome, she was supposed to be the protectress of her descendants, and was heard wailing as she sailed upon the blast round the turrets of the castle of Lusignan the night before it was demolished. " wikipedia

what if the reason Sandrone is seated in her mech butlers hands is because she has fins, she would not be the first Genshin character with animal traits

Disclaimer: This is an absolutely crackpot theory with next to no evidence to back it up

A real fishy leak says that Sandrone already appeared as an NPC, so I'd like to throw out a guess as to who the NPC is, should the leak be true.

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She was Liliane.

Aside from same hair colour and eye colour.

Firstly, we know the Fatui's main method of obtaining a gnosis is negotiating for the gnosis with whoever holds it (Zhongli, Yae, Nahida). For this, obviously the one with the gnosis must want something in return (Electro gnosis for the Traveller's life ect.). So where does this tie into the whole Liliane is Sandrone in disguise theory? Well, it has to do with the prophecy. Initially most of the citizens in Fonataine are dismissive of the prophecy, after the archon quest the existence of the primordial water and its ability to dissolve citizens is brought to light. While citizens may still doubt the prophecy, the evidence does leave a basis of validity to the prophecy. All of that was only brought up due to the failure to dissolve Liliane, someone who just so happened to be in a predetermined seat where whoever was sitting there was set to die, which is too much of a coincidence.

Secondly, the entire case in the first past of the archon quest could be fabricated to look as though it were the serial disappearances case. From the second part of the quest, we know that the entire case was committed by Vacher experimenting on women in order to try bring back Vigneire. However, when Liliane is attacked in the box it is more so a murder attempt rather than that of an experiment. Additionally, with the presence Cowell and Vaughn as accomplices it seems less so as though Vacher was orchestrating the entire thing. The boss who Vaughn tries to speak about may very well be the Sandrone who if they were involved would know the exact seat number that will be targeted.

I'd like to also throw out that Childe's verdict of guilty may very well be deliberately part of the Marionette/Sandrone 's plan. The Fatui most likely know both about Childe's abyssal power's origins and the primordial sea as Dottore knows knowledge not in irminsul so it would not be far fetched to assume that knowing the connection, Childe being falsely accused and being guilty despite being innocent was another piece in order to further bargain for the gnosis. In order to prove Childe is innocent however, the knowledge of primordial sea water had to have been made known in order for the true culprit to be caught.

This all leads back to the very first domino that allows for all the events to occur, most of which have Fatui involvement, Liliane. As far as we know she is the one who caused a domino effect leading to Childe's imprisonment and validating the prophecy. Knowing the Fatui, they plan and do not rely on sheer luck in order to obtain the gnosis(e.g distributing delusions during the Inazuma arc) which is why I highly doubt that Liliane was just coincidentally in the right place at the right time. Knowing this, it is highly probable that the Marionette was Liliane to give a kick start to all the events which leads to the Fatui obtaining the gnosis.

So that lantern rite cutscene has completely changed the way we see Sandrone since her and Guizhong look identical, but here’s the thing A) Guizhong was also shown dead in that cutscene and so unless revival shenanigans are afoot or copies/segments of Guizhong exist it’s unlikely it’s the real one B)We already have one Liyue harbinger in Pantalones and they seem to be sticking to the trend of one Harbinger representing each region (and it’s also giving the same vibe as Capitano is the Geo Yaksha) and 3) Guizhong was not the size of a child while Sandrone looks significantly shorter than every harbinger bar Pulcinella and even if she is kneeling she still wouldn’t be much taller than that and it’s speculation at best how she truly looks.

Here’s the thing I think people are forgetting, there are two candidates as to who is Sandrone, the girl or the ruin guard behind her. In the Comedia de’l arte Sandrone is a male puppet with a puppet wife and daughter as secondary characters and so applying this to Sandrone you get something along the lines of this.

I believe that Sandrone’s story may be one in which Guizhong while tampering with Ruin Machines as we have seen that she did in her domain, created a ruin guard that possessed sentience, her and the ruin guard grew a close friendship but he was kept hidden as to not freak the people of Liyue and the adepti out since the “field tillers” were killing machines from Khanrei’ah and a sentient one would be that more dangerous. So the ruin guard is kept somewhere occasionally visited by Guizhong, until, eventually she stopped coming back and so the ruin guard waited, and waited, and kept waiting until one day a certain Khanrei’an Jester or Mad Doctor obsessed with robots found it while exploring, they then bring it back with them and after discovering it possessed sentience it was promoted to the rank of harbinger, but it missed her friend who built him and so with the help of the doctors discovery of puppet making in the form of Scaramouche a baby Guizhong puppet was born and given the same affinity for machines, thus the modern Sandrone and his Guizhong puppet daughter. This would perfectly parallel the comedias idea of Sandrone, his “wife” Guizhong and his daughter and would probably make a better story than “She was revived/ She had survived this whole time”.

Anyways that’s my crack theory on Sandrone lmk if I missed something, if you have anything to add or just to tell me I’m completely delusional which I already knew :)

TL:DR Sandrone is actually the Ruin machine, given sentience or built by Guizhong and remade her as a puppet child after becoming a harbinger

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Yeah, after seeing this trailer and considering that Sandrone is related to the Machinery and after reading this theory, I got inspired and I want to leave also a mark, but focusing on other side.

Let's start to see each part.

1. Adventurers Guild. We know that this organization is serves as an adventurer-for-hire service for the people and other organizations in the seven nations of Teyvat. The Guild collates all the complex word-of-mouth information it receives and redistributes it in the form of quests and adventures assigned to adventurers. Also, I see that the HQ is on Snezhnaya. But little is known who founded it.
2. Then we have Katheryne. She is our well known recepcionist. What is special on her? Well, she is present in currently 3 countries, which are Mondstadt, Liyue and Inazuma and I don't be surprised if she is in Sumeru too. But then... how she gets so fast? Or... why she looks the same on all the places?
3. And yeah, we have Sandrone. We saw her with a machine. But based on leaks it is heavily implied that she creates android from living people, making it definately disturbing.

Why I am making a relation between Sandrone and the Adventurer's Guild? Well, thanks to u/dream996 who pointed out in his theory that Katherine might be a android from a living people.

And that leads to my theory.

Sandrone not only has the track (or mostly it if we don't include the encounters with Dainsleif) of every movement the Traveler did. But also has the intel of ALL the known countries. And Katheryne literally is the intel collector of her.

And yeah, someone pointed out that the Fatui are also a target from the Adventurers Guild, but made me think... what if is in fact to wipe problematic members or even worse? Just a theatrical number to not to look the Adventurer's Guild suspicious at all. And all only to show to us that the AG are the "good guys".

However this theory as expected has something that might have an exception. Yes, until now we don't have any info about Natlan (only one NPC from Inazuma mentioned about it). So it made me think... what if Natlan (or better said Murata) knows the intentions of Sandrone and put the Adventurer's Guild in a very bad position that can't collect the intel as expected?

Also there is that information that Sandrone created androids from living people, so, maybe she looks for the best suited adventurers to become her puppets? Then she might have a private army of androids made by the best of the best of the AG (with some exceptions like Alice of course).

Now I have some other shower toughts. Is somehow related to at least one of the parts mentioned previously and take it as other mini theories:

1. Let's start with Bennett. Yeah, he might have nothing to do here, no? However according to his Character Story I: "Seeing Bennett beg and plead before her eyes, Katheryne sighed and decided to spare him the truth that his "teammates" had long jumped ship.". On a normal situation he is supposed to lose his team and form another one (or become part of one). However I was wondering why he is left as a one man team until now. Yeah, we know that bad luck might be a factor, but still. Considering that Sandrone might be behind the Adventurer's Guild, maybe she saw potential on him? Or even more... she knows something more about him that once revealed everything might change (ex. knows the reason why he was left as a baby there)?
2. There we have Noelle. Funny story, she directly has nothing to do here. However considering that in Bennett's voicelines about he, he mentions that saw potential in her to be an adventurer and she in her voiceline about Bennett rejects that offer constantly now made me think... Noelle might be dodging a tactical nuke by rejecting the offering. I can't see Sandrone looking for her as an ideal android. Mondstadt might lose a potential very important member of the nation.
3. I can't forget Fischl. Yeah, she is literally an intel collector for the Adventurer's Guild, is also considered a "rising star", but if we consider the Sandrone's theory correct, now it might have a different light since she might work for the Fatui indirectly. Now makes me think... what if Sandrone makes her go to Snezhnaya before Mondstadt realizes about it?

And well, that's all about the post. Thanks to read all the way. I know that my theory might have holes as a cheese, but well, I just wanted to post it about Sandrone and her potential role in the future.