Sandrone/Storyline

Sandrone, also known as "Marionette" and by her personal name Marionette Guillotin,^[10] is the Seventh of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, the head of the Armory Palace, and one of the joint overseers of the Adventurers' Guild. She is a Fontainian puppet and researcher, as well as the creator of Katheryne. She is accompanied by Fagio, her newest personal creation.

She was created around 450 years ago by Alain Guillotin in the image of his deceased sister, Mary-Ann Guillotin, and kept Pulonia, his final creation, as her constant companion following Alain's death.^[9] She was recently stationed in Nod-Krai to oversee the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau, but was later killed during a confrontation against Dottore after his seizure of the Three Moons' powers. Following the battle, her core was salvaged to be sent to the Fontaine Research Institute, where she was later revived due to the awakening of a Stellar Linchpin. After Pulonia's destruction, she created Fagio to serve as her new companion. Following her public return during the Fontinalia Festival, she has now returned to her duties in Snezhnaya as a Fatui Harbinger.

Profile

Personality

According to both Tartaglia and Wanderer, Sandrone is always engrossed in her research on Automatons, she has a "terrible personality,"^[11] though Columbina expresses a more positive view on her, seeing her as one of the few who treated her well during her time in the Fatui, and finding Sandrone's angry outbursts amusing instead of off-putting. Following her interactions with the Traveler and Columbina, Sandrone showed more concern for her friends, which Dottore noted was uncharacteristic of her. She seems to have had a more caring and concerned personality at least when Alain was alive.^[12] After accepting her emotional side, Sandrone becomes more honest with herself.

She dislikes losing and often has numerous backup plans to use as failsafes.

Sandrone is remarkably similar to a human; her body bleeds,^[13] and she is capable of touch, taste, and smell. She doesn't merely measure the ambient temperature around her, but can feel it.^[9] She does not actually require food, but she enjoys eating as a matter of sensory pleasure, with a preference for dishes from her native Fontaine, and also likes sleeping, though the windup key in her back forces her to lay face down to comfortably sleep.^[5]

Appearance

See also: Clockwork Maiden's Waltz

Sandrone is a young, pale-skinned woman of medium height. She has beige-coloured hair tied back in a braided bun with two long strands framing her face. A large puppet wind-up key rotates on her back, which serves a vital role in her functions. The key can rotate at faster speeds, which is a likely indicator of being flustered or embarrassed.

As an NPC, Sandrone's dress had more golden ruffles and a black corset with a triquetra symbol in the middle with ruby red gemstones in the gap inside them. Her collar stands out relatively less and has a sharp, tear-like red gem hanging much like a necklace would. She has a long skirt with gold accents that cover a fair amount of her front legs. She also wears black heels with red straps and gold ribbons on the back. Her eyes have a shade of blue that is relatively dull.

As a playable character, Sandrone's skirt is slightly shorter, and most of the gold trim on her dress is replaced with varying shades of red. The triquetra symbol is replaced with a flower-like symbol with gold trim and a single red gem in the middle. The collar is significantly more defined, with the gem now embedded in a gold necklace and the black accents of her collar covering more of her skin than before. Her skirt has become significantly shorter towards the front; the gold accents are slightly brighter and a short balloon-sleeved blouse with a mix of dark red and gold patterns underneath it. Her heels have remained nearly the same, but the straps are now white and the ribbons red. One of the more notable differences is that her eyes have become significantly brighter, coupled with gear-like irises that are light blue towards the bottom but become darker up top.

History

Past

Marionette Guillotin was personally created by Alain Guillotin and first activated on his 65th birthday, modeled after his deceased sister Mary-Ann.^[10] She was a special creation of his, as she had an emotion module which allowed her to learn and process feelings. Alain's impetus for Marionette's creation was a futile (and naive, as he would soon realize) attempt to bring Mary-Ann "back" to him, and indeed, her very name was meant to hearken back to his sister's name. However, after she tried to say their names when first activated, he immediately regretted the intention of placing Mary-Ann's legacy on Marionette's shoulders, as she was a new life that had just been born, and that she deserved her own life and identity entirely hers, just like any human would. From that point on, Alain became determined to teach Marionette not just life skills and an education, but to be her own person, choose her own birthday, and her own name. Although she later told him that she was perfectly fine with his choice, his own considerations of why he had chosen the name for her and what it represented led him to never address her as "Marionette" out loud ever again.^[14]

Alain would frequently give Marionette notebooks, most of which she initially discarded after a few strokes. Eventually, she chose not to discard one of them and began learning to record. Over time, Marionette's learning capabilities exceeded his expectations, and he gave her a new creation also of his own making, Pulonia, which was meant to calculate the unknown, though he admitted to her he himself didn't know what that "unknown" would be. Pulonia was used to help Marionette with basic tasks.^[9]

At some point when Alain was increasingly ill due to age, Marionette criticized Alain's desire to save the world, implying to him that dying "just to fulfill someone else's wish" was not worth it, as well as "utterly risible." Alain merely tells Marionette that she needs to find a wish purely for her own self, and that when she does, she may receive his "final gift," which is currently unknown.^[12]

Before Alain passed away, he asked Marionette to destroy all of his manuscripts so they couldn't be stolen. Marionette agreed to do so, though she read them all beforehand, since she did not want his work to go to waste.^[15] He also requested that Pulonia be brought to the Fontaine Research Institute, though because she felt no one would be able to maintain it as well as she could, decided to have it accompany her, improving upon its task performance. She also modified Pulonia for combat, but had to do so carefully to avoid interfering with his primary functions. Marionette eventually arrived at Snezhnaya for a new "job" with the Tsaritsa, eventually becoming the Seventh of the Fatui Harbingers with the codenames Sandrone and Marionette.^[10] Her tasks were not known, though she would frequently meet with Columbina, Arlecchino and Signora, finding the former two "annoying," though she tolerated most of her colleagues, apart from Dottore.^[9]

Shortly before the events of the story, Sandrone attended a performance, "The Mountain Sparrow," by the Korolevskiy Troupe, with Signora, Columbina, Dottore, and Pantalone; she later lamented how awful it was to be stuck sitting next to the latter two. A short time later, Sandrone dreamt of Alain's funeral, which disturbs her mood significantly. Immediately after, every Harbinger including Sandrone attended a meeting in which Pierro outlined the Tsaritsa's plan to collect all the Gnoses. Sandrone was given charge of any "technical needs" that might arise for her colleagues. After the meeting, Columbina, Arlecchino, and La Signora had a tea party in Sandrone's bedroom, in order to comfort her—as she has been visibly preoccupied with sadness over Alain.^[12]

At some point after Scaramouche obtained the Electro Gnosis and cut off contact from the Fatui, Sandrone and her fellow Harbingers attended Rosalyne's funeral. She calls Pulcinella, Pantalone, and Arlecchino's banter laughable or "utterly risible" and when the other Harbingers pay their respects at Signora's coffin by closing their eyes, Sandrone notably does not.^[16] Nonetheless, the funeral was remarked in her diary, while she privately remarked about how Signora lived her life.^[17]

Sandrone is also the creator of the Katherynes.^[6]

Present

At one point, Sandrone admonished Javert for reasons unknown.^[18]

Sandrone took an interest in Mosso Lombroso's work and his creation, "Curve". To get ahold of Curve and Mosso's research notes on creating Curve, she made contact with Baulande and Jenck. Jenck secured the research notes, but his attempt to cover up his crimes by killing the Traveler, Paimon and Talochard only succeeded in destroying Curve. Displeased, Sandrone had Jenck's mind broken, his tongue cut out and replaced with an apology note to the three survivors, then left trussed up inside the Opera Epiclese to be found. Euphrasie surmises that Jenck's backer left an apology either because they did not want to make enemies out of the three, or because they felt remorse at Curve's destruction.^[19]

Sandrone's subordinates were able to recover Curve's core, but while transporting it to Nod-Krai it was stolen by the Fruity Order who hid it in one of Aino's robots before escaping to parts unknown. The damaged core would reawaken as a new personality based on Talochard, and be given the name Chard Lombro.^[20]

At some point, Sandrone created the artificial Fatuus Velimiru, sending him and a special ops force to Natlan in order to learn more about the Secret Source. She gave him a replica of a Secret Source core that allowed them to override the original administrators if they resisted, and warned him that the Traveler's capabilities made them a potential threat to the operation.^[21] During the Archon Quest Song of the Welkin Moon: Prelude - The Journey Home, the special ops force ultimately falls to Ix Raq'lapuj Chue'q Buluk, the Eleventh of the Thirteen Sovereign Lords, leaving the mission a failure. Though annoyed, Sandrone simply considered the venture a side project.

Sandrone makes her first in-game appearance in Nod-Krai to oversee the construction of the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau and to enforce the "Palestar Edict",^[22] following Columbina's defection^[23] although she did not prioritize her return due to being colleagues. Upon learning of the Traveler's arrival to Nod-Krai, Sandrone decides to take the initiative and personally meet the "variable" at Nasha Town's Adventurers' Guild. She warns them to not interfere in Fatui affairs in Nod-Krai and later acquires the Moon Marrow from Vilemina. While heading out to use it, she becomes alerted to an alarm going off in the facility and has her subordinates prepare a trap for them. She is then confronted by the Traveler, Lauma and Jahoda, but her trap fails to go off as her subordinates are attacked by The Wild Hunt. Put in a bad mood after the battle, she gives the Moon Marrow back to them before leaving.^[24]

Following the incident, Sandrone put modifications on Pulonia to better combat the Wild Hunt, intervening in a fight against Rerir, Flins and the Traveler. Pulonia's upgrades are ultimately insufficient to fight Rerir (even at 10% of his strength), but before the fight could continue, Columbina teleports them to Silvermoon Hall. Sandrone scolds Columbina for interrupting their fight, but Columbina remarks that her recent calculations had been significantly off. She then reminds her that the Fatui still had a warrant out for her, though she chooses not to fight her and leaves with Pulonia.

When Columbina arrived at the facility, Sandrone was somewhat unamused to see her. Columbina asked her to help meet Arlecchino, which Sandrone reluctantly accepted before the Wild Hunt burst into the facility looking for the former Harbinger. Upon spotting Rerir, she sent Pulonia on him, but he had no interest in fighting her and easily incapacitated Pulonia in seconds. Arlecchino later received her message and, while she went to see Columbina herself, sent Lyney, Lynette and Freminet to help her at the Bureau. Sandrone had Freminet help repair the damaged landcruisers while asking Lyney to keep his sister away from them, just as one of the landcruisers Lynette touched crumbled to pieces.

After Rerir's defeat, Arlecchino met with Sandrone at the bureau, asking about Dottore. Sandrone stated that he was not capable of human interaction but told her that he hadn't bothered her, prompting the two to suspect that he was up to something.^[25] Sandrone later confronted Dottore over his actions and was disgusted when she discovered that he was turning her subordinates into monsters. She agreed to help the Traveler stop him, and with the help of Albedo and the Wanderer, created a formula that would bring Columbina back. The formula was partially completed, as the remainder required Varka, Nicole and Arlecchino to bring the moon down. In order to trick him, she placed the real formula in Pulonia while creating a fake one for herself. Along with Pulonia, she confronted Dottore and assisted the Traveler, but they were still overpowered by him. As Dottore attempted to finish the Traveler off, Sandrone took the strike meant for them. Dottore asked Sandrone what her final words would be, and she used the time to tell Dottore to go to hell, prompting him to finish her off.^[13]

With her deception successful, Columbina was able to return to Teyvat and destroyed Dottore, avenging her demise, afterward rushing to her lifeless body to mourn. Per her verbal will years earlier, Arlecchino had both her and Pulonia's bodies sent to the Fontaine Research Institute so their cores could be salvaged. Arlecchino took a few keepsakes as willed to her to be used as mementos stored at the House of the Hearth, while sending one book to the Traveler, having been told specifically by Sandrone not to let Columbina know of it, though Arlecchino wouldn't speculate as to why. Additionally, some associates of hers in Fontaine would sort out some arrangements.^[26]

At some point after her body was sent to Fontaine, she inexplicably reactivated, though she was completely confused as to why and initially feared that they had failed and she was held within one of Dottore's laboratories. However, noticing the Fontainian architecture around her, she decided to see if her formula had worked. As she was highly damaged, she had to shut off most of functions to process the equation, and found that it had been achieved, much to her delight. She then checked on Pulonia and discovered that he was in a far worse state than she was, being damaged beyond repair. Sandrone also noticed a Stellar Linchpin waiting for her at a nearby desk, eventually concluding that she was able to reactivate from the combined power of the Stellar Linchpin and a hidden fail-safe Alain had implemented inside of her, unbeknownst to her. Alain's backup also included a secret message that he had left a few things behind for her in his home. She used a few parts from Pulonia to repair herself, and created a new assistant named Fagio, which was designed to work alongside the linchpin. While she wished to let everyone know she was all right, she decided against it for the time being in order to resolve the few anomalies that had been plaguing her. To do this, she rented out The Wingalet from Wriothesley under the guise of a fishing license, hiring Citlali as a front desk receptionist to draw away official attention. In the meantime, she took the opportunity to wander the Court of Fontaine as another nameless face as the Fontinalia Festival started. She caught sight of Columbina visiting the city, but was able to conceal herself in time and slip away.

The Traveler, who was brought to the Wingalet by Xavier, met with the "captain", only to be shocked when they learned that the captain was none other than Sandrone herself. Relieved at her safety, they asked her why she hadn't told everyone else. Sandrone explained about her anomalies and wished to resolve them before they could cause further trouble. She then called Citlali back and told her of her status; while shocked to learn she was a Fatui Harbinger, she accepted the fact that Sandrone wasn't as bad as she thought, given how Capitano had sacrificed himself for Natlan's safety and agreed to continue working for her. She then had the Traveler join her in swimming near Elton Trench to gather some information and catch some "fish" for the aquarium before Sandrone left to compile the new data.^[27]

As filming was taking place on the ship, Sandrone had to hide from Columbina, who couldn't help but feel her familiar presence but was unable to pinpoint it. She took the Traveler to her original home, of which Alain had the cave it was located in modified with a giant airlock so that the rising waters of the future would not submerge it. There, they found more notes and Sandrone realized the cause of her "anomalies", namely the inherent clash between logical thought and her emotional core, ultimately coming to terms with them, and accepting that emotional pain was a part of life after ignoring them for so long. They proceeded to return to the Wingalet, where she informed Citlali of the cause of her troubles sleeping near the Opera Epiclese, and explained that they were the amalgamation of lost, severed souls. As she planned to return to the Fatui, she ruled out calling Neuvillette to help, and thus decided to ask Citlali to pinpoint the monster so they could grant it peace.^[28]

Citlali pinpointed the monster in the Tower of Ipsissimus, and the group went there to purge the monster, returning the separated souls to the Ley Lines. After the battle, Sandrone wished to get payback on Columbina, but as she was contemplating her actions, Columbina teleported her to her domain. She was surprised to see Sandrone, but initially confused and seemingly hurt as to why she had avoided her. As Columbina walked closer to her, Sandrone immediately pulled her arm and hugged her in a tight embrace, which surprised Columbina. Sandrone claimed that this was her revenge for the way that Columbina had once pulled her into another tight embrace, but both were clearly relieved to see each other again. The two were then brought back to Teyvat, where Xavier was still shooting and captured their embrace on film. Not wanting to be in anything that wasn't perfect, Sandrone helped the crew take some reshoots. Charlotte then suggested having a party on the Wingalet, which Sandrone accepted after finishing one final piece of business. She took the Traveler and Columbina to Alain's grave, where she apologized for not visiting him since she had left, and gave thanks for giving her life. After paying their respects, they returned to the Wingalet, where Sandrone caught up with Arlecchino, having a tea party with her, the Traveler, Paimon, Columbina, and Furina in the captain's quarters. Arlecchino was pleased to see how much Sandrone had grown. Furina, who noticed the reassembled piano below deck, asked Sandrone if it was hers, which she confirmed. Arlecchino suggested playing it, and while she did not want to perform in front of everyone, she reluctantly agreed to do so. Charlotte commemorated the event with a group photo which Sandrone participated in.^[29] Once the party concluded, she moved Pulonia's body to her old home, hoping to return one day so that she could fully repair him. She did not want to restore him without his memories, which was something far beyond her current understanding.^[30]

Sandrone would later host tea parties with the Nod-Krai cast to personally thank each one of them for their contributions. Some of the invitations were also handed out to recent acquaintances such as Neuvillette, Furina, Citlali and Navia. She also learned of Mary-Ann, who had reached out to her for a gathering after she and Ann discovered her portrait on several film posters while they had been travelling. Later learning of Seymour, she invited him and his companion Mamere for a tea party in Nasha Town, where she asked him how he recognized her despite never seeing each other before. Seymour replied that she was had a familiar presence as his original master but concluded that they were not the same person. His manner of speech led Sandrone to privately express content that Alain had improved on his language modules before he created her. She then handed another invitation to all four, where Sandrone told them that she felt their gatherings were like family reunions, and the rest of the group concurred, which they commemorated with a painting by Mamere.

Shortly after the festival, Sandrone had Columbina pass a message to the Traveler, aware that their journey would bring them into inner Snezhnaya. Since they had many conflicts with the Fatui, she hoped that they would be in their best behavior, since she couldn't be seen giving preferential treatment to them, nor getting involved with any conflicts that could arise. While looking for clues, the Traveler ultimately decided to ask Tartaglia for advice, entering Glupov, where they were denied entry by Yuzhanin. The commotion caused Sandrone's tea time to get interrupted, and upon seeing the Traveler outside the fortress, asked them to meet her at Torchlight Books. There, she informed her of relatively "mild" news before Zverev informed her of a developing situation in Svetloledovka. Once they arrived, she saw the equipment in severe disrepair and asked the Traveler to help save the trapped miners. Upon their return, they caught up with Tartaglia, and the Traveler questioned the purpose of Project Stuzha. While both Harbingers admitted they were taking care of the people under their command, they held back from a dissenting vote due to their positions.^[31]

After a meeting in the Veche, the Traveler, Tartaglia and Sandrone were wondering who Lelek was. The Traveler suggested using Odette as a reference point, and while Tartaglia found it hard to believe a Fatuus would defy the Tsaritsa, Sandrone found it reasonable that the Rokot could give her an identity to hide under. She explained that they would need Arlecchino, as she knew her best, but she had not returned from her duties and she explained about Odette's past to the Traveler. Tartaglia gave the Traveler his ticket for Odette's rehearsal, and Marionette explained that she was practicing the "Spirit Seeker," a classical ballet passed down in Odette's family for generations. While she had seen it several times, she felt that she was not ready to properly perform it.^[32]

Trivia

• Sandrone is the first character whose Weapon menu pose is significantly different from that of other characters with both the same model and weapon type.
  • Sandrone also has a distinct plunging animation; rather than smashing the claymore straight down with both hands as every other character does, Sandrone summons the claymore with her left hand and lets the claymore plunge by itself.
• Sandrone is the second playable character who was deceased and later resurrected during the events of the game, the first being Zibai.
• Columbina was told of Sandrone's origin as a puppet by Dottore once and had discussed it with her.^[5] The first hint of this in-game was during Moon-Prayer Night, when Columbina indicated that the clockwork mechanisms that Sandrone 'wears' were not merely for show, but actually a part of her body.^[33]
• Sandrone is ambidexterous, but appears to favor her right hand.^[34]
• She taught herself how to play many kinds of musical instruments.
• Sandrone loves coffee, and prefers hers extra-strong.^[33] The taste reminds her of home. It appears she picked up her coffee habit from Alain, but unlike him, also developed a liking for tea after receiving a tea set that was meant for him.^[35][9]
• Alain repeatedly tried at least three separate times to ask Sandrone what she wishes for, but she has not yet come up with an answer.^[12][26]
• Sandrone sleeps on her front, to prevent the wind-up key on her back from hitting the bed. She also has to use seats with no backrest, or else sits forward near the front edge to keep her key clear.^[12][35]
• Sandrone draws parallels between both Alain's and Rosalyne's respective deaths.
  • Both died for "someone else's" wishes: Alain always wanted to "save the world" and never had enough time his own life fully,^[5] while Rosalyne only shared "certain aspects of [the Tsaritsa's] vision."^[12]
  • Sandrone predicts that Alain will only receive "a few snide remarks at a shallow funeral,"^[12] while Rosalyne's funeral has, per Pierro, "foolish theatrics."^[16] She verbally refers to the mediocrity of the outcomes, in spite of their self-sacrifices for others' goals, as "utterly risible."
• By the time of the story, Sandrone is implied to be forgetting Alain, as all flashback memories have Alain's face or entire body blurred out of focus.^[12]
• Heavy rain reminds her of Alain's funeral, which makes her upset.^[12]
• Sandrone's outfit seems to be a reference to the traditional outfit Pulonia, the commedia dell'arte character married to Sandrone, usually wears, with a long dress, a white apron, and a white, laced bonnet.
• Sandrone is seen wielding the unascended version of A Teaspoon of Transcendence in her Character Trailer.

Aliases and titles

• Sandrone is known by these additional aliases or titles:
  • Marionette (Fatui codename)^[24]
  • Marionette Guillotin (personal name)^[10]
  • The Seventh of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers^[24]
  • Her Highness the Clockwork Princess, Unraveller of All Reason (self-proclaimed)^[28]

Etymology

• In commedia dell'arte, from which the Eleven Fatui Harbingers' aliases and titles are derived, Sandrone, his wife Pulonia, and his son Sgorghiguelo were originally represented by puppets.
  • This connection is also emphasized by her constellation, a puppet held up by strings.
• A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. In French, marionnette means 'little Mary'. During the Middle Ages, string puppets were often used in France to depict biblical events, with the Virgin Mary being a popular character, hence the name.

Other Languages

References