[Luna IV] I really like how "time travel" remains consistent in Teyvat
I was surprised that Columbina's time travel in Luna IV was a traditional bootstrap paradox instead of the overwriting Dottore did, but if you look at past chapters this is still valid -Teyvat's always had two types of time travel:
* deleting content from Irminsul, which just obfuscates the causes of events
* time travel with actual changes
The first is Rukkhadevata and Scaramouche's deletions; the second is Ei planting the Great Sakura Tree, which is implied to only have been possible with Istaroth's help.
With recent reveals implying the Heavenly Principles made the Shades to hold the Moons' power, it stands to reason that the Moon Sisters could also do the latter form of time manipulation, though when Columbina tampers with the past she gets pulled back into the moon's reflection. However, there is one change she does which doesn't eject her: knocking over a vase outside the Traveler's room.
This is an example of the first kind of "time travel" and Nicole even explained how this works at the end of *Inversion of Genesis*. Anyone could have knocked over that vase. The cat Flins and Nefer see there probably would have broken it a few seconds after Columbina did, so in the eyes of Teyvat's rules, that was okay. What *wasn't* okay was Columbina making both tangible *and changes only she could make*, i.e. leaving messages with kuuvahki, protecting Hiisi Island and so on.
No one else could have done those things, at least not unless they were in Columbina's shoes (sandals?) at the time, so those count as "type 2" time travel and break Teyvat's systems. Perhaps Columbina could freely alter the past post Act VIII but with the Heavenly Principles as the ruling force it may be that only Phanes and Istaroth can do so without consequences (as well as those Istaroth blessed, like Venti)\*.
This isn't much, but I really liked how even lore from as far back as 2.5 and 3.3 is still kept consistent despite Columbina seemingly breaking the rules on the surface.
I hope you liked this short post!
\\\* I also doubt she could simply to prevent her breaking the story or bringing Sandrone back. Even her final character story says she couldn't do the latter (and refuses to mold the world too much to not do what Dottore tried to).
* deleting content from Irminsul, which just obfuscates the causes of events
* time travel with actual changes
The first is Rukkhadevata and Scaramouche's deletions; the second is Ei planting the Great Sakura Tree, which is implied to only have been possible with Istaroth's help.
With recent reveals implying the Heavenly Principles made the Shades to hold the Moons' power, it stands to reason that the Moon Sisters could also do the latter form of time manipulation, though when Columbina tampers with the past she gets pulled back into the moon's reflection. However, there is one change she does which doesn't eject her: knocking over a vase outside the Traveler's room.
This is an example of the first kind of "time travel" and Nicole even explained how this works at the end of *Inversion of Genesis*. Anyone could have knocked over that vase. The cat Flins and Nefer see there probably would have broken it a few seconds after Columbina did, so in the eyes of Teyvat's rules, that was okay. What *wasn't* okay was Columbina making both tangible *and changes only she could make*, i.e. leaving messages with kuuvahki, protecting Hiisi Island and so on.
No one else could have done those things, at least not unless they were in Columbina's shoes (sandals?) at the time, so those count as "type 2" time travel and break Teyvat's systems. Perhaps Columbina could freely alter the past post Act VIII but with the Heavenly Principles as the ruling force it may be that only Phanes and Istaroth can do so without consequences (as well as those Istaroth blessed, like Venti)\*.
This isn't much, but I really liked how even lore from as far back as 2.5 and 3.3 is still kept consistent despite Columbina seemingly breaking the rules on the surface.
I hope you liked this short post!
\\\* I also doubt she could simply to prevent her breaking the story or bringing Sandrone back. Even her final character story says she couldn't do the latter (and refuses to mold the world too much to not do what Dottore tried to).
Commentaires
Unlike the Sakura tree, I feel like we have elements in this story without an origin.
An example would be Columbina's lullaby. She seems to have sung it to herself when she appeared in Nod Krai.
The key to our spaceship was not a paradoxical event. Just strange time travel.
The Traveler has their own key which they always had from the start. This key is not tampered with at all and the Traveler only shows it to prove the key on the ground isn’t theirs.
If they decide to give the key they find on the ground to Direidyth, then the key we find at the start is the key that we gave to her. But that key is the same key we find in the first place, next to the hilichurl. So if we took that key and gave it to Direidyth in the past, only for us to find it again next to the hilichurl… yeah. That key has no origin. It’s a bootstrap paradox.
If we choose not to give Direidyth the key, then the abyss sibling throws their key for us to find. This also leads to a paradox because the key that the Traveler finds remains in their bag if they choose not to give it. If the sibling threw that key for us to find, that would mean the key we find is the sibling’s key… which can’t be the case because we didn’t give it to Direidyth to show to the sibling. This means there is a third key that appeared out of nowhere.
The only way to reconcile this paradox is to swap the key on the ground with Traveler’s original key which they always had from the start. So if Traveler somehow accidentally gives Direidyth their original key and ends ups keeping the one they find on the ground. But we know this doesn’t happen because the key we find on the ground is a separate quest item in the bag while Traveler’s key is not an interactable item.
None of Columbina’s actions to influence the past had major consequences on the world either (other than bringing herself back) so I feel surprisingly comfortable with the scope of time travel the writers introduced in this latest quest.
She created the conditions she grew up in and experienced life in, then later laid those conditions for her last self.
Closed loop time stories like these often have a chicken vs egg component to them for which there really is no answer.
That was a new and different vase that the Cat pushed.
During the party we had after we beat Rerir, Columbina breaks a Vase and writes on the wall. Later, during the current AQ the cat pushes the current vase.