Thalia and Melpomene
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Dialogue branch conditions
Thalia and Melpomene is a World Quest in In the Wake of Narcissus: Act I - Search in the Algae Sea.
Steps
- Head to the final Seal
- Solve the Orthant's puzzle
- Obtain the "Persona" piece
Dialogue
Common Dialogue: Beginning
Quest DescriptionTrace and find the Narzissenkreuz Ordo's seals.
Version 1
This version is chosen if Condition missing.
- (Approach the seal)
- Caterpillar: This is the last place.
- Ann: At least the entrance is still sealed.
- Ann: Looks like Jakob hasn't answered the riddle here.
- Caterpillar: Perhaps he provided "an" answer, just not "the" answer.
- Paimon: Hmm... The answers from before were "shadow," "life," and "love."
- Seymour: Based on the previous patterns, my logic module has hypothesized the tablet inscription to be as follows:
- Seymour: "Always united"... "Born in an instant, often contradicting, I accompany you in eternal rest"...
- Paimon: Then the last line is "the first droplet."
- Paimon: Caterpillar, Seymour, do you guys know the answer?
- (Dialogue proceeds to Common Dialogue: Ending)
Version 2
This version is chosen if Condition missing.
- Caterpillar: This is the last place.
- Paimon: Our search hasn't turned up anything so far...
- Caterpillar: Very true. However, this entrance is shut, which means we still have a chance.
- Caterpillar: Looks like our adversary hasn't solved the riddle here.
- Seymour: The inscription here reads: "Always united"... "Born in an instant, often contradicting, I accompany you in eternal rest"...
- Paimon: And the last line is "the first droplet."
- Caterpillar: The areas from before had riddles like this as well. Do you guys still remember the answers?
"Shadow."
- "Life."
- "Love."
- Paimon: Ugh, the answers just keep getting more abstract, don't they?
- Paimon: Caterpillar, Seymour, do you guys know the answer to this riddle?
- (Dialogue proceeds to Common Dialogue: Ending)
Version 3
This version is chosen if the player completed the other three seals before starting In the Wake of Narcissus: Act I - Search in the Algae Sea.[verification needed]
- Caterpillar: This is the last place.
- Paimon: Our search hasn't turned up anything so far...
- Caterpillar: Very true. However, this entrance is shut, which means we still have a chance.
- Caterpillar: Looks like our adversary hasn't solved the riddle here.
- Paimon: That said, who *is* our competition, exactly?
- Caterpillar: Assuming that the Narzissenkreuz Ordo has been inactive for centuries and that the knowledge I possess of it still holds true, combined with events that occurred prior to now...
- Caterpillar: I fear it must be Jakob.
- Ann: That jerk who was picking on Seymour? What would he want with this stuff...?
- Caterpillar: I'm afraid that his objective is the same as ours — to find the materials needed to forge the Holy Blade of Narzissenkreuz.
- Caterpillar: The Ordo was able to reproduce the four requisite hypothetical substances here in the material world, based on the esoteric philosophies of the underground kingdom and Ancient Fontaine.
- Seymour: I do not understand.
- Caterpillar: These enigmatic substances are purely experiential. You could say they are even further beyond ordinary logic than elemental power.
- Seymour: I entered all introductory to intermediate level textbooks from the Akademiya's Spantamad into my memory banks decades ago. There is nothing mysterious about elemental power.
- Caterpillar: Is that so? Anyway, to sum up, this is born of the confluence of traditions from Fontaine and technology from the ancient underground kingdom.
- Caterpillar: And thus, four types of substance came into being: Memory, Wish, Soul, and Persona.
- Caterpillar: To avoid any possible ambiguity, let's call them the "Memory" piece, "Wish" piece, "Soul" piece, and "Persona" piece.
- Paimon: Why are these used to make the Holy Blade?
- Caterpillar: In the Narzissenkreuz Ordo's brand of mystical philosophy, the temple is a microcosm of the universe, the members are stand-ins for the gods, and the holy oil is tempered willpower.
- Caterpillar: The Holy Blade, on the other hand, is "reason," that which cuts everything open. It can only be born out of consummate human will.
- Quite abstruse.
- Caterpillar: That's esotericism for you. You attach yourself to anything that looks similar enough, and when this sort of thing becomes magic, fiction becomes reality.
- Caterpillar: Either way, our adversary hasn't yet solved the riddle. Or he did, but wasn't able to provide the correct answer. With Jakob being said adversary, my bet is on the latter.
- Seymour: The inscription here reads: "Always united"... "Born in an instant, often contradicting, I accompany you in eternal rest"...
- Paimon: And the last line is "the first droplet."
- Caterpillar: The areas from before had riddles like this as well. Do you guys still remember the answers?
- "Shadow."
- "Life."
- "Love."
- Paimon: Ugh, the answers just keep getting more abstract, don't they?
- Paimon: Caterpillar, Seymour, do you guys know the answer to this riddle?
- (Dialogue proceeds to Common Dialogue: Ending)
Common Dialogue: Ending
- Caterpillar: I think I have an idea concerning "the first droplet."
- Caterpillar: It sounds like it's referring to the first raindrop that fell following the creation of the world. I believe this idea was in vogue with both Ancient Fontaine and the Ordo.
- Paimon: But how are we supposed to find something like that?
- Caterpillar: Well, this first droplet became part of all water in Teyvat. In that sense, every drop of water is the "first droplet."
- Caterpillar: It's like the first god spreading out the potential for greatness. An element of divinity is present in every person's body.
- Paimon: But if it's that simple, the person who came before us should have had no problem offering up the right answer.
- Caterpillar: Indeed. I'm probably wrong.
- Caterpillar: Well, even if it was the wrong answer, it was a good one. I can only conclude that the person who set up these riddles had no sense of romance.
- Paimon: And now he's laughing at you for not getting how security works!
- Seymour: I am unable to provide an answer. My search for "the first droplet" retrieved 1,200 results.
- Seymour: "Legend has it that the world's first drop of wine came to be when the Anemo God..."
- Okay, you can stop there.
- Seymour: Very well.
- We can give it a shot. Let's go to Mondstadt...
- Paimon: If you're gonna flog a dead horse, let's at least go about it the right way!
- Ann: About that... I think I have something I can share.
- Ann: There's a legend that says that Oceanids came from the first tear shed by the previous Hydro Archon.
- Ann: Meanwhile, the first tear on the earth was shed by the first Oceanid after she came to understand humanity.
- Paimon: Wouldn't the first tear in the world have come from the first crying human baby?
- Ann: Animal tears are actually salt discharges, and in those peaceful times, humans breathed their first in laughter.
- Ann: That's what the legends say, anyway.
- Seymour: Actually, I believe that the cries of babies and animal salt discharges can be regarded as similarly unemotional behaviors.
- Seymour: Babies cry due to external stimuli, and to fill their lungs with air as quickly as possible. That is what the Sumeru Amurta textbooks say.
- Paimon: Is the answer an "Oceanid" then?
- Paimon: That does seem like an answer that the person before us might not have provided.
- I think you're beating a dead horse here.
- Paimon: Paimon thinks this is the right track, though!
- I think we're on the right track!
- Paimon: Sure beats trying to find the Anemo God's wine!
- Caterpillar: Based on my understanding of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, this makes logical sense.
- Caterpillar: The Red Empress who dreams in a place unknown, the dreamer who never says what they mean.
- Paimon: That's even more confusing than the riddles.
- Caterpillar: Well, does that matter? We're already at the final juncture. Whatever the case, the answer will come to light at the end.
- Now then, Ann, if you wouldn't mind.
- Ann: Sure, I'll give it a try. But do come up with another answer quickly if I fail, alright?
- Paimon: It opened!
- Caterpillar: We have to get the last piece. Otherwise, the Holy Blade will fall into the Ordo's hands.
- (Approach the altar)
- Ann: Is that the "Persona" piece ahead?
- Seymour: Unable to analyze the density of the substance before us. It appears to have a mass of... zero.
- Caterpillar: It looks like we've got the last piece. We should at least be able to negotiate a bit with our opposition now.
- Paimon: On the bright side, at least we can stop the Narzissenkreuz Ordo from forging the Holy Blade.
- Caterpillar: Not at all, Paimon. Our final goal is to forge the Holy Blade ourselves, and use it to stop their plan.
- Caterpillar: Of course, Ann, I have not forgotten what this sword means to you.
- Caterpillar: A Holy Sword that can cut out the will is also your key to unraveling the mystery. And to be honest, it is equally important to me as well.
- Caterpillar: It's just that we have more important, more pressing matters at hand. Would you mind, then, if we looked into the mysteries surrounding us later?
- Ann: I'm fine with that.
- Caterpillar: In that case, (Traveler), please take this "Persona" with you, if you would.
- (Obtain
"Persona")
Interactables
Main article: Orthant of Persona § Interactables
Excerpt
- O Remus, player of the grand symphony, king of all the world.
- Your music is heard across the heavens! It resounds throughout the earth.
- When Sybilla's Golden Bee gives you a warning,
- O Merciful One, grant us eternal life.
- Proclaim this sacred moment,
- That it should be praised for all eternity.
- Copied from "The Third Hymn," Movement 5, Stanza 1.
Trivia
- The quest's namesakes, Thalia and Melpomene, are part of the Greek Muses; they are the goddesses of comedy and tragedy respectively.
Video Guides
Other Languages
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | Thalia and Melpomene | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 悲喜的面具 | |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 悲喜的面具 | |
| Japanese | 悲喜の仮面 Hiki no Kamen | |
| Korean | 희비의 가면 Huibiui Gamyeon | |
| Spanish | La máscara de la tragicomedia | The Mask of Tragicomedy |
| French | Thalia et Melpomène | Thalia and Melpomene |
| Russian | Талия и Мельпомена Taliya i Mel'pomena | Thalia and Melpomene |
| Thai | หน้ากากแห่งความสุข | |
| Vietnamese | Thalia Và Melpomene | |
| German | Thalia und Melpomene | Thalia and Melpomene |
| Indonesian | Thalia dan Melpomene | Thalia and Melpomene |
| Portuguese | Thalia e Melpomene | |
| Turkish | Thalia ve Melpomene | |
| Italian | Talia e Melpomene |
Change History
Released in Version 4.2