Nahida doesn't have many friends either, and Dunyarzad is one of her few friends, so in the dream's loop, she has always been closely protecting her.
But she still failed to protect Dunyarzad, and Nahida feels extremely guilty about this, even a bit aggrieved.
The Nahida in the illustration is rarely unable to control her emotions, lowering her little head full of frustration, her expression all aggrieved.
["…I'm still far from it, still far from qualified to become a true god."]
["At the very least, I failed to save her. If it were a qualified god, how could they let their most devout believer pass away with such regrets on 'Sabzeruz Festival'…"]
Venti, Zhongli, and Ei fell silent. A qualified god needs to be able to 'save'...
To be honest, this statement broke their defenses more than Nahida's sharp critique of the Archon War.
The Nahida in the story is sharply critiquing herself. At this moment, disappointment, grievance, and self-blame—these three emotions fill Nahida's heart.
As the God of Wisdom who should be the most rational, Nahida is instead so emotional.
Her inherent temperament has a lot of divinity, which actually gives everyone a certain 'sense of distance.'
But her emotional side nicely compensates for this. Her emotionality gives her a human side, perfectly eliminating the 'sense of distance.'
The two combined, and in the end, Nahida becomes a little loli with a strong sense of maternal love.
If she weren't an emotional god, this 'maternal love' would turn into 'a god's benevolence,' and the feeling it gives would be completely different.
Speaking of which, Paimon in the story saw through Nahida's self-blame. She has always been very accurate at reading people, so Paimon in the story directly points it out to soothe Nahida's sense of self-blame:
["The blame should be on those Sages. Nahida doesn't need to blame herself!"]
The readers particularly agree with this statement. Those shitty Grand Sages—if that shit-stirrer hadn't come out, what a warm story this would have been?
Without the Grand Sage causing trouble, it would be Dunyarzad mustering her courage to step out of her life and becoming friends with Nilou and the others.
Watching the Dance of the God of Flowers at the Flower God's Birthday Festival, and right beside her, her god is there accompanying her, staging the 'white moonlight returns home' trope in the dream.
Most importantly, after everything ends, Dunyarzad wouldn't die!
What a wonderful story! All ruined by the Grand Sage!
Stir it up, keep stirring! Stir until Sumeru is done—worst case, I'll go back and plant trees!
Everyone had already vented their anger on the Grand Sages, but Nahida was still blaming herself.
[Nahida: "I… am not blaming myself, but making a rational judgment about the distance between me and a qualified god."]
The fault clearly lies with the Grand Sages, but she still blames herself—truly unable to reconcile with herself.
So in the previous island story, isn't it also telling her own heart matters?
Freedom, resistance, reconciling with oneself, and others' gazes—the experiences of the four on the island can all find shadows on Nahida.
At this time, Nahida has not reconciled with herself yet. Fortunately, Paimon isn't someone who loves to lecture, and they've encountered too many self-blaming people like Nahida on this journey.
When encountering this kind of thing, you have to hit it straight!
[Paimon: "Don't be stubborn, Nahida. Gods can be sad when they need to be…"]
This statement is said very well; the readers couldn't help but want to give Paimon a thumbs up!
Although Paimon usually says some low-EQ things, at key moments, her words really hit home!
Especially Furina, who read this sentence over and over, savoring it carefully, muttering to herself.
Gods can be sad too... Can I cry out loud?
Yeah, the seniors who appeared before have all been sad, even cried.
Venti and his friend, Zhongli and the Dragon King, Ei and the real one—gods can be sad too! How did I overlook this?
In fact, the reason Furina overlooked this is the same as Nahida's—three words: lack of confidence.
They lack confidence, don't think they are qualified gods, so they disguise themselves, making themselves look strong enough.
Because of lack of confidence, they have to act confident.
Because of lack of confidence, they feel no one will like the real them, so they act like the version everyone will like.
And in repeated 'performances' of feigned strength, Furina suffers more than Nahida.
Because few people watch Nahida, but too many watch Furina!
Eyes all around, stage spotlights always shining on her—Furina can't stop her performance, not for a moment.
The only place she can cry is her own room.
But now Furina has thought it through a lot, because everyone has seen stories of other gods.
They get sad too, they cry too—Lucian has photos as proof there. Are they not qualified gods either?
Thinking this way, Furina suddenly remembers that on Lucian's 'Gods Crying' photo wall, her photos seem to be the most...
No! Angry, want to bite someone! Why can't they take some beautiful photos of me!
After a wave of emotional ups and downs, Furina actually calmed down a lot, and the Nahida in the story is the same.
Paimon is ultimately a gentle good person. Gentle people are good at healing others' emotions. Nahida was persuaded, and the calmed-down her speaks with gradually firm words:
["To prevent similar sacrifices from happening again, we must quickly end the 'loop.'"]
This statement is very firm, but the readers' hearts suddenly tighten.
Already judged as a 'sacrifice'? Really no saving it?
In fact, because of the constant looping in the dream, everyone still has a sense of unreality about Dunyarzad's 'sacrifice,' still hoping for a reversal.
But now even Nahida defines her as a 'sacrifice'—looks like there's really no hope...
The readers are heartbroken but have to accept this fact.
Fortunately, Nahida in the story gives a way to resolve the dream—at least similar things won't happen again.
[Nahida: "This 'Sabzeruz Festival dream' is under the void's control, but 'dreaming' is a ability unique to humans; the void can't create dreams out of thin air either."]
["In other words, in this dream, there exists a 'main body.' This place is the dream created by that person."]
The readers breathe a sigh of relief—good thing it's just waking one person; if it were waking everyone, that would be trouble.
So who is the dream's main body? First, exclude the Traveler.
They've woken up who knows how many times; if they were the main body, the dream would have ended long ago.
Moreover, this is the Akademiya's premeditated plan—how would they choose a Traveler who arrived at an unknown time.
If the Traveler insists they are the main body, the Akademiya would ask: Who are you?
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice-Over · Raiden Ei: About Crying
"Because crying means you're not a god? My sister didn't cry, let her do it."