so i have this headcanon very close to my heart where, after aether reunites with lumine and saves all of teyvat, venti accompanies them on their travels to other worlds (thread) #aeventi #venlumi

this was one of my very first genshin headcanons and i haven't shared it much, mostly because we are so early in the story and there is so much that may happen or change. but i thought it would be nice to see what everyone thinks abt it

in venti's story quest, he tells us (and only us, since paimon was sent away by aether for venti's privacy) a poem nameless bard told him long ago. my translation from JP:

"fly, fly... fly like a bird. in my place, see the world. in my place, reach the highest skies (heavens)."

arguably this could be about venti ascending to celestia in nameless bard's place, and becoming an archon/some type of god, which venti accomplished.

except, venti also has these two voicelines:

while the nuance from JP <-> EN is different in both language/delivery, the core of the message is still the same:

venti's greatest wish is to travel & see the whole world (as nameless bard told him to do in his place). and now, it is the same, but he wants to go with traveler

but... venti has been to liyue many a time. he's been to celestia, he's surely traveled around teyvat before, and he knows of worlds beyond teyvat...

to me, there is this implication that as an archon, he is restricted to mondstadt/teyvat. but he still wants to travel...

if his greatest wish is still to travel, and he knows aether is an outlander who has seen many worlds & now wants to accompany him, then i think it makes sense that the "high heavens" the nameless bard was talking about may even be beyond celestia's abode

as a spirit representing freedom, being locked into an archon position and ruling over an entire region is antithetical to venti's values

he's often called an "absentee archon" because he refuses to directly rule over mond in the way that is expected of him. he hates celestia

i almost feel like his role as an archon is not the end of his revolution against the divine. he ascended to celestia after taking decarabian down, but the archon position he holds now may not be permanent, rather a necessary means to achieving a world that fits his ideals

there's a lot lot lot more lore-related context i could give to explain my ideas in full but this is really briefly how i see venti and his future goals

aaaaaaaaa really there is so much i could add that doesn't fit into a twitter thread at all

just to talk about those voicelines a bit, i think they are really really cute, espec in JP

the fact that voiceline 1 reflects voiceline 5 (which is unlocked w/ greater friendship) makes me feel things ... venti asking aether what his greatest wish is when thinking of his own...

in this voiceline, it's implied venti was already thinking about aether's greatest wish before aether shows up (to wherever this location is)

in JP he dreamy sighs at the end, it's so so so cute, like he was daydreaming about something related to aether's greatest wish

i actually really like the EN for this line too but NDJDVNJDKNKBN

in JP, when venti is explaining why he wants to go with traveler, he says 「君がいてこそ完璧なんだ」which is basically like saying "it's perfect precisely because of your existence" or "it's perfect with you"

and he sounds so happy when he laughs at the end this line is supposed to be related to the topic "more about venti" and you unlock it at friendship lvl 6 so he has to know traveler well to say this to them

so like... his *greatest* wish is to travel with aether/us...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

just to end this thread, i picked aether so my frame of reference is aether, but ofc the same applies to lumine or whoever is in the "traveler" role

& it would be interesting to learn the nuance for the original CN too

this is all pure headcanon hehe