Is the traveler actually important?

I’ve been thinking about the Traveler’s role in the story, I’m starting to wonder if he’s really that important.

Throughout the story, it feels like no major organization or faction truly needs us. Sure, in the latest quests, Dottore tried to convince us to participate in his experiments, but that felt more like a personal interest rather than an order from the Fatui themselves. From the moment we arrived in Teyvat, the Traveler was already famous, so it makes sense that every faction knows who we are. But knowing us isn’t the same as needing us.

If the Fatui actually needed the Traveler as a Descender, wouldn’t the Tsaritsa have ordered our capture immediately? Instead, Tartaglia tried to kill us, Signora did the same, Scaramouche too, and Dottore as well. As if it didn’t matter if we died. The other Harbingers mostly don’t care about us at all. There’s no sense of urgency, no attempt to negotiate or exploit us on a larger scale.

At the beginning of the story, the Traveler’s goal wasn’t even to understand Teyvat and his journey, but simply to find their sibling. That would have been the perfect opportunity for a faction like the Fatui to make a deal, just like Dottore later attempted. Yet no one does.

When you look at the bigger picture, every major group already has its own plans and goals. The Fatui. The Abyss Order. The Hexenzirkel. The Sinners…

All of them are moving forward independently. Meanwhile, we’re supposed to be a Descender, an existence said to have the will or potential to create or destroy a world. That should be an insanely valuable asset, something everyone would want to control or exploit, am I wrong? But instead, we’re often treated like we’re disposable.

It really makes me question maybe the Traveler is just a bystander. The story keeps moving forward, the major players keep executing their plans, and we’re just there — fighting enemies, reacting to events, but rarely shaping the larger narrative.