Dottore

Dottore

NAME Zandik

ELEMENTS Element Cryo Element Electro Element Hydro Element Pyro

REGIONS Sumeru Snezhnaya

LOCATIONS Sumeru Nod-Krai

AFFIL­I­A­TIONS Fatui Eleven Fatui Harbingers Sumeru Akademiya (formerly)

DEATH Total death completed in the Archon Quest Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana in Song of the Welkin Moon: Act X - Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana (See Status for individual segments) Additional Titles Categories Exalted Master of the Heretical Path Heretic of the False Moon The Outcast The Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbinger

Dottore's unfettered research towards creating a god or elevating humans to the level of gods, left him ostracized from mainstream society but paved the way for him to become the Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers,[7][8] with strength comparable to the gods'.[9] No subject is off-limits to him, and he has researched Khaenri'ah's Automatons; researched ways to weaponize forbidden knowledge (via The Withering and Eleazar); and sought to utilize the power of dreams to elevate humanity's cognitive abilities, all for his goal of putting humans at the same level as gods. This ambition is likely the reason why Pantalone, who seeks to "overthrow the natural imbalance between gods and humans," works closely with Dottore.[10]

Pursuing his research interests surpasses any of Dottore's moral scruples, which makes him an effective researcher but also often comes at the detriment of others. While the exact circumstances in which he was expelled from Sumeru Akademiya are unclear, his expulsion followed an investigation into the suspected murder of Sohreh and a series of infractions where he acted in pursuit of his research "without authorization."[11][12] Dottore's experiments are not limited to furthering his god-related research, either; upon witnessing the acceptance of the "Kabukimono" at Tatarasuna, Dottore orchestrated an experiment involving murder and perceived betrayal, claiming an interest in observing how the Kabukimono would respond.

To surpass the limits of his own human cognition and lifespan, Zandik created "segments" of himself after decades of research into puppet-making techniques using Scaramouche as a foundational blueprint.[13] Each segment represents Dottore at a different age in his life, made into an independent individual in order to preserve their perspectives. While the original Zandik died of old age, Dottore's Omega Build views this as his crowning achievement as a researcher and takes great delight in Lesser Lord Kusanali's disapproval of them. However, he is selfish even with his other selves, and had already grown tired of all his other segments, despising them and wanting to get rid of all of them, which Lesser Lord Kusanali successfully exploits to coerce the segment confronting her, the Omega Build, into erasing the others in exchange for the Electro Gnosis.[14]

Dottore is hated and despised by several of his Harbinger colleagues, including Arlecchino and Sandrone. Arlecchino states that she would have killed him were he not a Harbinger and that his disappearance would be a "gift to the world," while Sandrone believes her automatons provide her with more normal human interaction than him.

ADVERTISEMENT Appearance

NPC Escher Il Dottore posing as Escher Being that seven different iterations of Dottore are present in the form of his original self and his six segments, his appearance is widely varied, though all share the traits of wavy, light-blue hair, average or above-average height (barring his one child segment), red eyes and a slender build. During his time at Sumeru Akademiya, Sohreh described him as "young" and "handsome."[15]

In his original appearance in the manga, Dottore sports short and curly light blue hair, and wears a long white coat over a pinstripe vest and white dress shirt, with a pink bow tie under the collar. He is seen wearing a black and white mask which covers his entire face, save for his eyes and a circular area around the right side of his mouth. The Fatui symbol can be seen at the top left corner of this mask.

Dottore's most prominent design is that of segment 35 (introduced as his Omega Build), seen as his in-game model. He has medium-length wavy blue hair that is slicked back and wears a pointed, beak-shaped black mask that covers his eyes but otherwise leaves the rest of his face exposed. He wears a long white coat over a blue dress shirt and cravat, with a raven-like accessory draped around his shoulders. Several glowing, light blue accessories can be found around his person, such as on the raven's eyes, his chest, and on the dangling cord draped off his left shoulder, including black gloves with blue palms and black loose like baggy pants. Based on his memories recorded in Irminsul, the Omega Build is derived from Dottore's appearance and personality 400 years ago, during which he perpetrated the Tatarasuna Mystery incident.[16][Note 1]

As for other iterations, they are only shown in a single animated scene. Dottore's segments seemingly identified one another by the number corresponding with their age (see trivia for more details on who is who).[17] 8, the youngest of the batch, is a small child who wears simple Sumeru-style garb of a light-colored robe with a dark collar and chest and black hems to the sleeves. 18, a young adult, wears attire similar to that of an Akademiya student and a golden 4-pointed star shaped earring on his right ear. 25 dresses more like a worker in a lab, with a white cross-chest lab coat, forearm-length black gloves, a pair of silver-framed glasses, and a high-collared blue shirt. 45 shares a similar appearance to 35, but has a large overcoat in a style shared by the other Fatui Harbingers. 65 has the longest hair and wears a bulky dark coat with fur trim over a black suit, a raven mask (resembling that of a plague doctor) with a gold beak and blue lenses, and a dark top hat. 65 is also shown walking with a cane.

By the age of 85, at the time of his death, the original Zandik's appearance is less ostentatious. His hair most closely resembles the style of segments 35 and 45, having not yet lost its blue color. He wears a plain white lab coat, black gloves, long blue drapery over his shoulders with a gold tip and blue gem on either end, a blue dress shirt, and a black collar or tie with a light-blue gem inlaid in gold at the center. He continues to use a cain for support, walking with a black one with a gold handle, and uses a monocle in his right eye.

Dottore is also able to take on completely different appearances, posing as a mechanic from Fontaine named Escher during the Archon Quest The Night-Bird Falls at the Curtain's Call in Interlude Chapter: Act III - Inversion of Genesis. During this quest, he wears Fontaine clothing and a belt with a knife in a scabbard attached on it located behind his back.

Pre-Fatui Life

Zandik was presumably born to a merchant family[18] several decades after the cataclysm. At young age, he joined Sumeru Akademiya as a member of a yet-undisclosed Darshan (although Amurta[19] and Rtawahist[20] have been eliminated); Zandik disliked being constrained by Darshan designations and repeatedly rejected suggestions to join other Darshans. He was also critical of the overreliance on the Akasha System, as well as the Akademiya's general reticence about researching the Great Red Sand.[20]

Zandik's studies frequently took him to desert ruins. During one incident, he and a senior Rtawahist student entered Thoth's domain. The other student was injured while exploring, and their supplies began to run out. Thoth revealed himself by possessing a cat, intrigued by Zandik's intellect. However, Zandik distrusted Thoth's promises of power without revealing its drawbacks, while despite Thoth recognized Zandik's intellect, he also recognized his supreme arrogance, and feared for the safety of Zandik's partner. Zandik ultimately rejected Thoth's gift, while Thoth tricked Zandik into believing keeping his companion safe was necessary for their escape by telling him that only descendants of Tulaytullah could enter and leave the domain freely.[Note 2] Zandik's notes contained a warning directed to anyone else who might come to the ruins, urging them against trusting Thoth.[20]

The Zandik's Legacy series of interactables include some other anecdotes related to his desert expeditions, which led to the incidents that caused him to be expelled from the Akademiya. A trip to the ancient desert city of Gurabad led him to encounter Khaenri'ahn machines and technology; unaware of their origins, but realizing they were made by a civilization not under the rule of The Seven, he dubbed them the "Gurabad samples." However, they were fragmented and incomplete, leaving him few leads to continue researching.[21][22]

His interest was renewed during an Ardravi Valley expedition as a trainee Dastur, where he discovered and entered another Ruin Golem. Inside, he found many pieces that were missing from the Gurabad samples, and believed that he would be able to repair the machine's automatic system with these parts. He also discovered the records left behind by the Schwanenritter (which the Traveler uncovers several centuries later as well), and tied them back to the legends about the Ruins of Dahri.[22] During the expedition, Zandik was partnered with an Amurta Dastur named Sohreh. Although she initially found him "rigid" and bemoaned that their two Darshans' research styles clashed too much for them to have anything to talk about, they eventually made conversation about local plants and animals. Sohreh describes it as "a great time," and her note ends with a remark about how they would go on a picnic together later that night.[19]

What happened next is unclear. The next record involving them is the Ragged Attendance Record, which states that Zandik had "acted without authorization for the third time." The record goes on to list a gravely injured Sohreh, who was ostensibly attacked by Rishboland Tigers.[12] Soon after, the team was attacked by a "killing machine" which Zandik disabled with his quick thinking. However, his desire to bring it back to the Akademiya for disassembly and reverse-engineering was rebuked by his peers and teachers. As punishment, Sage Sharnama delisted him from the author list of the paper that the expedition had been writing. During this time, Sohreh died and was buried.[23]

Sometime afterwards,[11] Zandik was also involved in some sort of medical research related to Eleazar in Apam Woods, recorded in some Ragged Records. The lab's child subjects all disappeared mysteriously, which Zandik believed was the result of interference by the Aranara, a ley line/elemental creature with the power to control dreams. This led him to conclude that by capturing and controlling the Aranara, human intelligence could be "elevated [...] to a whole new level," and humanity could "transcend the earthly boundaries."[24] He also participated in Eleazar research in Dar al-Shifa, in which he successfully managed to cure an Eleazar patient named Abbas by using "materials" procured from the remains of other deceased patients.[25] Abbas, however, was deeply scarred by his treatment and, believing a cure for the disease to be blasphemous, eventually dug his way out of the hospital out of sheer desperation.[26]

By this point, Zandik was openly proclaiming that humans were "nothing more than a machine of a certain level of complexity," and that they could be modified to create powerful "enhanced humans." Despite knowing the dangers of espousing such rhetoric, Zandik strove to remain in the Akademiya, as it was an environment which allowed him to perform his research.[8] Nevertheless, investigators at the Akademiya grew suspicious. Sohreh's remains were exhumed and dissected to verify her cause of death. Despite the lacerations and hemorrhaging, the actual fatal injury was a fractured hyoid bone — which suggested she had died from strangulation, not from lacerations or blood loss like the rest of the Investigation Team was led to believe.[27] His interest in Eleazar was investigated, with notes about the sudden disappearance of records followed by an "Eleazar outbreak." The last legible parts of the message board's notes on Zandik mention that prior to his disappearance, he expressed great interest in the Legend of Varuna.[11]

Eventually, Zandik was expelled from the Akademiya and banished from his village in next, then he took refuge in the desert.[7][8]

ADVERTISEMENT Fatui Involvement

After his expulsion, Zandik was approached by Pierro, who invited him to become part of the Fatui with the promise of resources for his research. He agreed, and was given the title of Il Dottore, or The Doctor — which he found humorously ironic.[8] In his initial time, Pierro told Dottore about the false sky, which he took interest in and wrote down notes on it, believing it could be useful in the future.[28]

Dottore also performed experiments with several human subjects regarding an acute toxicity test, during which only one of the five subjects survived, who was a twenty-year old man named Feofan Sergeyevich Veksel, who later became the Harbinger known as Pantalone. Dottore would supply Feofan with various experimental drugs. Although the original Dottore was the first to monitor him, this was taken up by his segments following his death.[29]

Under Pierro's orders, Dottore infiltrated Tatarasuna to sabotage the Mikage Furnace as part of their plans for Inazuma in the future. Posing as a Fontainian engineer named Escher, Dottore supplied the furnace with materials that slowly released Tatarigami into the environment, causing the workers to become sick and the furnace itself to go critical. When the Armory Officer, Niwa Hisahide, headed inside the furnace in order to fix it, Dottore murdered him to cover up his own trail.

During this chain of events, Dottore met and developed an interest in Kabukimono, a discarded puppet created by Ei, and conspired with Pierro to induct him into the Fatui. After murdering Niwa, Dottore cut out his heart and planted it inside a special device which could cleanse the furnace's impurities. He gave this device to Kabukimono, who managed to purify the furnace but was horrified by the contents of the box. Knowing full well that Kabukimono had deeply respected Niwa, Dottore proceeded to lie that the heart was from an innocent servant that Niwa had killed before fleeing, which shattered Kabukimono's trust in humanity. Thinking that Niwa had betrayed him, the puppet was left enraged and disgusted, and went on to join the Fatui as the Sixth Harbinger Scaramouche.[30]

Scaramouche collaborated with Dottore, who modified him to unlock his power, and grant him abilities even beyond what Ei had originally given him.[31] After several decades of studying the methods used to create Scaramouche,[13] Dottore decided to create segments of himself at different ages in order to gain the perspectives from his various stages of life. These segments are created with rare materials and are time-consuming to produce, making them highly valuable to him.[14]

At some point Dottore collaborated with Sandrone in an experiment which revolved around high temperatures. An accident occurred which caused a substance to explode. However, disregarding safety precautions, Dottore instead ordered a subordinate to open the device which caused a poisonous gas to leak out. Sandrone barely managed contain the incident, but was left infuriated when Dottore simply remarked that the experiment was a waste of his time and left her to clean up his mess.

Dottore showed some interest in kuuvahki when he was researching the Light Realm, and during the time Columbina was a Harbinger, he asked her to use her powers to assist with his studies.[32] They kept up good relations for around 300-400 years, with her arriving long enough ago that the original Zandik was alive.[17] During this time, he saw Columbina as a younger sister of sorts and they got along, although his warped perception of what familial affection ought to be like also meant he sought to exploit her. Though he never directly harmed her (by her own word), she still felt their relationship was too similar to the one she left the Frostmoon Scions to escape and cut him off. He seemingly didn't comprehend what he did to drive her away, and would occasionally watch her from afar as she stood outside to gaze at the moon.[33][34][35]

Dottore created several segments of himself in an attempt to extend his life, creating at least six of them at various stages of his life; one child and five adults, one of which would be the Omega Build, and they referred to him as Zandik or the "main." The original Dottore tried to extend his lifespan to no avail. On the day of his eighty fifth birthday, Zandik presumably suffered from a cardiac arrest and begged his segments to help. Instead, they simply stood around and watched him die, seeing it as a rare opportunity for self-dissection. They recorded the procedure, and while some segments expressed sadness over his death, they used the procedure as a way to better test the capabilities of the Elixir.[36]

Dottore also had an arrangement with the former Fatui Harbinger Crucabena, who would occasionally send him greviously injured "rejects" from her experimentation in the House of the Hearth in exchange for any results he could obtain from them himself. After she was killed by Peruere, Dottore approached the new Knave to continue the deal. She rejected most of his proposals, with the exception being an independent "secret experiment" for which he only proposed the direction at most.[37]

Under Dottore's guidance, the Fatui performed research related to Eleazar, a disease only found in Sumeru. Collei was given to Barnabas for treatment and underwent painful and traumatic experiments with the remains of Nabu Malikata,[38] which was effective in suppressing Eleazar's effects but left her traumatized and afflicted with other symptoms.[39][40] Those symptoms went away after Cyno sealed away the gods' remains.[41]

Several of Dottore's segments spoke to inspector Eroch, preying on his insecurities to unseal Ursa the Drake. Eroch also learned of Dottore's endgoal of replicating divinity, and wished to join him in his crusade.[42]

At some point after Diluc's departure from Mondstadt and before the events of the manga's main story, Dottore single-handedly vanquished Ursa and made Mondstadt indebted to the Fatui.[43] Dottore began recruiting vulnerable targets in Mondstadt, luring them to the Fatui only to use them as test subjects for his and his subordinates' human experiments. He also began setting up an unknown project in Mondstadt, which he intended to check up on while attending Ludi Harpastum. It is unclear whether Dottore had a hand in the events surrounding Diluc's 18th birthday, such as giving Crepus a Delusion.

ADVERTISEMENT Manga

Dottore first appears in Haeresys, a Fatui underground arena where Krupp is putting his test subjects into fights against an unknown enemy. After his 139th subject dies, Dottore calls his work "pathetic as usual" and threatens to turn Krupp into one of his test subjects instead. Krupp, desperate to avoid that fate, turns his attention to Mondstadt's invitation to attend Ludi Harpastum.[43]

The two arrived at Diluc's Manor, where Diluc and other prestigious members of Mondstadt high society have gathered. Dottore leaves most of the talk to Krupp, only speaking to express his disdain for the people of Mondstadt. He stalks off after Diluc delays the negotiations, but returns to silence Krupp when the "Darknight Hero" (a disguised Diluc) is about to interrogate him. Bemused by the boy's abilities, Dottore leaves, telling him to get stronger.[43]

No longer interested in Mondstadt, he drops the negotiations, orders his diplomats to withdraw, and returns to Haeresys first.[40] He does, however, reclaim Krupp's corpse to transform him into a Ruin Hunter-like monster. After learning of the Black Fire incident instigated by Collei, which left two of his diplomats dead, he expresses complete apathy towards the matter and leaves it to his subordinate Barnabas.[44]

He reappears in Chapter 16, where he expresses annoyance that the guards were incompetent enough to let the captured "Darknight Hero" escape, while Barnabas was severely wounded in the aftermath of his attack on Collei and Amber.

ADVERTISEMENT Present Day

Pre-Sumeru

At some point before Mighty Cyclops' Adventure!, the Fatui built a Ruin Guard manufacturing facility as part of their research into the Abyss. Tartaglia believes that this facility belonged to Dottore, and that the whimsical researcher abandoned the autonomous facility after growing bored with it without shutting it down. This resulted in the manufactured Ruin Guards spreading into the surrounding area, attracting the attention of the Millelith. Towards the end of the Chapter, Tartaglia took his younger brother Teucer there, claiming it was the "Liyue Institute for Toy Research." Over the course of exploring the factory, Tartaglia and the Traveler end up wrecking the facility to keep Teucer safe.[45]

Some time after Tartaglia returned from Liyue but before Signora's death, Columbina and Dottore had a falling out,[46] caused by Columbina's realization that the Doctor wanted to exploit her abilities beyond a level she was comfortable with.[33][34] Reminded of the Frostmoon Scions' transactional expectations for a relationship, she lost interest in Dottore's kuuvahki experiments and stopped attending.[32]

One of Dottore's Segments appeared at La Signora's funeral, where Il Capitano presses him on the whereabouts of Scaramouche and the Inazuman Gnosis. Dottore's roundabout answer reveals he is waiting on Scaramouche to make a move first. Meanwhile, the Segment in the prime of Dottore's life is busy conducting an experiment in "blasphemy," which takes the form of burning a massive tree at an unknown location.[47]

Eventually, Dottore traveled to Sumeru Akademiya and, knowing that the Akademiya's sages revered the wisdom of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and disdained the current Dendro Archon Lesser Lord Kusanali, offered to create a new God of Wisdom for them out of Scaramouche. Even though Dottore was expelled from the Akademiya in ages past, the sages agreed.

Dottore was also interested in the Aranara, a race of strange mushroom creatures as he was interested in the connection between them, dreams, and The Withering that occurred in Sumeru; Trofin Snezhevich believes that he was interested in weaponizing dreams and the Withering for unknown purposes. Aware that only children could see the Aranara, he had the Fatui kidnap children to lure them; however, their powers allowed them to escape the trap and rescue the children at the same time.[48] The Farrokhzadan were a group of Eremites hired to help carry Dottore's tasks in Sumeru, although they also failed due to the Traveler's intervention.

At some point in time, the Desert Investigation Expedition Team led by Froderock Fronkonsteen, Dottore's subordinate, was dispatched to the Desert of Hadramaveth with a mission to investigate the current situation with the desert tribes.[49] They attempted to have dealings with the Tanit tribe, only to be manipulated by its matriarch, Babel.

ADVERTISEMENT Sumeru

Dottore makes his first appearance before the Traveler when they, Paimon, and Nahida (in Katheryne's body) attempt to get information on the sages' plans from Setaria. Having foreseen Setaria's wavering loyalties, Dottore and the sages put her in confinement and Dottore set up an ambush. Modifying the Akasha terminals to deposit information into people's minds, Dottore made them think of the Traveler as a great hero, which caused them to swarm the three. To save her people and buy her companions time to escape, Nahida plays her trump card: using her own powers to forcibly control the Akasha terminals and undo the changes which Dottore had affected. However, by doing so, she revealed her true nature to the Harbinger.[7]

Although Nahida initially manages to escape from Dottore, she realizes that his skill in modifying the Akasha meant it was only a matter of time before he would trap her consciousness. Meanwhile, Dottore predicted that the Traveler would attempt to rendezvous with Tighnari, who had turned down the sages' offer to join their project, and sent elite Eremite mercenaries after them. Although the Traveler and Nahida reunite at Pardis Dhyai and discover the sages' true objective — creating a new god in Scaramouche — Dottore succeeds in trapping Nahida's consciousness and his Eremite mercenaries destroy the Katheryne puppet.[50]

Dottore later visited Tighnari in order to acquire Haypasia claiming that he would be able to help her, but Tighnari refused, having suspected malevolent intent behind his claim. Having been recalled to the Tsaritsa, he later had a few subordinates stay behind to take her by force, diverting the Traveler and Dehya to Port Ormos. Despite the ruse, his subordinates were defeated and forced to retreat after Scaramouche began pelting the area with thunderbolts with Ei's Gnosis when the Traveler informed him that he was trying to take Haypasia.[51]

After the Traveler and Nahida defeated Scaramouche, Dottore's Omega Build confronts Nahida, using a special sound wave to put the Traveler and Paimon to sleep. He then negotiates with her, acquiring Ei's Electro Gnosis in return for destroying the other segments, with some being uncaring while others swore revenge. He also negotiated for her own Dendro Gnosis, after giving her information that the stars and skies were a "lie" before returning to the Tsaritsa in Snezhnaya. The Omega Build was pleased with the results in spite of losing his fellow segments and Scaramouche, finding himself in a good mood now that the other segments could no longer bother him. He presented the two Gnoses to the Tsaritsa, explaining he traded the secrets of the false sky in exchange for them.[28]

Dottore then began planning his next experiment in which he would try to split his soul to reach a particular destination. After much trial and error, Dottore perfected the technique of digitization and envisioned a scenario in which one half would be sent to the Ley Lines via death, while the other half would be uploaded as pure data. These two entities would collide in Irminsul, reforming him as a whole while retaining his memories.[28]

ADVERTISEMENT Natlan

Upon learning that the false sky was seen in Natlan, Dottore sent a small group of subordinates to infiltrate the nation from Nod-Krai to understand more about the Ancient Moon segments.[52]

Song of the Welkin Moon

Dottore, along with most of the Harbingers, was presumably present for the opening of the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau. He and Sandrone remained there while the others returned to Snezhnaya.[53] Following Columbina's abandonment of the Fatui, the Tsaritsa issued a Palestar Edict to retrieve her at all costs, which Dottore executed while pursuing his own agenda of acquiring the power of the Three Moons.

While in Nod-Krai, Dottore began sending members of the Fatui to antagonize the Frostmoon Scions with the intent of seizing the Eternal Moon's Marrow in their possession. Behind the scenes, he orchestrated Rerir's revival by gathering a large number of his body's fragments, causing an upsurge in Wild Hunt activity in the area. It is implied that Dottore wanted to exploit Rerir's obsession with the three moons to lead him to Columbina and possibly the Iridescent Moon's Marrow.

Meanwhile, Arlecchino and Sandrone, who disliked and distrusted Dottore, became suspicious of his low profile and attempted to investigate his motives, though they failed to find anything conclusive. Hoping to stall his plans, Arlecchino convinced the Tsaritsa to recall Dottore to Snezhnaya by arguing that there was no need for three Harbingers in Nod-Krai. However, Dottore managed to circumvent this order by ostensibly complying with it but secretly remaining within Nod-Krai.[54]

Through unknown means, Dottore managed to make contact with the phantoms residing within the ruins of Hyperborea when they appeared during the Trilunar Syzygy and gleaned new information about the moons through them. While Columbina was celebrating Moon-Prayer Night with her friends, he created a disturbance at Teyvat's borders in order to distract Alice and other members of the Hexenzirkel from getting in his way. Finally, when Columbina was about to ascend to the Frost Moon at a Hyperborean altar, Dottore managed to trick her into altering her trajectory towards a false moon he had specifically made to mimic the kuuvahki signature of the real one, imprisoning her and stealing both the Eternal and Iridescent Moon Marrows in her possession.

With all three moons in one place, Dottore obtained god-like powers over the primordial forces of Teyvat. He immediately used them to freeze time in order to prevent Columbina's friends from retaliating, although this failed to have any effect on the Traveler. In the ensuing battle, Columbina banished herself to the Moon's Reflection, causing Dottore to temporarily lose control over his powers and forcing him to retreat to his facility at the Special Territory Research Institute on Ashveil Peak.[55] He eventually manages to make up for this loss by synthesizing an Artificial Moon Marrow to substitute in Columbina's stead, and proceeds to turn parts of Nod-Krai into testing zones for his grotesque experiments.

The Traveler and the rest of the Nod-Krai cast attempt to confront Dottore in his facility, but they are easily overpowered and the Traveler ends up being captured within one of Dottore's spaces. Taking special interest in their status as a Descender, Dottore attempts to manipulate the Traveler into working together with him as part of on a grand experiment to transcend fate and become a god. He notices Nefer spying upon their conversation, but fails to capture her due to the intervention of Nicole. Ultimately, the Traveler ends up categorically refusing his offer, and is rescued from Dottore's clutches by Wanderer soon after.

The final confrontation with Dottore occurs as he makes his way to Nasha Town and challenges the Traveler, Flins, Lauma and Nefer as the False Moon God. During the fight, he tears open the False Sky to draw power from the darkened husk of the Frost Moon behind it, kills Pulonia and Sandrone, and isolates the Traveler's remaining allies one by one, hoping to ransom them for the Traveler's allegiance. However, his plans are thwarted when he fails to keep the Frost Moon from being pulled down into Teyvat due to the combined efforts of Varka, Arlecchino, Nicole, and Sandrone's formula.[33]

The return of the Frost Moon allows Columbina to be fully reborn as the sole Trilune Goddess of Teyvat, and upon joining forces with the Traveler, the tide turns against Dottore. They manage to land critical blows that dislodge the Eternal and Iridescent Moon Marrows from the device he created to contain them, weakening him considerably and allowing Columbina to free her friends. In a final attempt to survive, Dottore tries, unsuccessfully, to use the Artificial Moon Marrow as a shield to withstand a devastating moonbeam from Columbina, which shatters it and incinerates him in the process.[33]

With the first half of his theory fulfilled, Pantalone then moved into Sumeru with his forces, uploading parts of Dottore's data into the Irminsul. The theory was successful and Dottore was made whole in Irminsul, where he began overriding Nahida's access over the system and putting her in a comatose state when she tried to investigate. In the process, he sprouted a massive Irminsul tree that fully manifested and began to grow on his whim. The growth was stopped after the people of Sumeru managed to use the Aaru system developed by King Deshret to overload Irminsul, though he waved these efforts off as farcical. The growth of the tree caused Nahida to realize that Dottore was the one behind the events, and the Traveler and Wanderer are sent to Irminsul's depths to deal with him. Dottore managed to locate the two with some effort and later confronted them, revealing that he knew Wanderer's true identity as Scaramouche. His meddling caused the Irminsul system to become irreversibly corrupted, forcing Nahida to use the Pyro Gnosis to burn the entire system down. With his link to Irminsul destroyed, his life came to an end, but he was able to say farewell to Pantalone before fading away, satisfied with the results of his experiment.