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Fontaine is the fifth main region inGenshin Impactthat you’ll reach just after finishing the main story of Sumeru. The region belongs to the God of Justice, and is filled with trials popularly known as performances. The Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale is an important part of these performances.
Ever since the start, this structure has been surrounded by mystery. However, as you continue the main story, it becomes one of the integral parts and likely the most important aspect of it. The true nature of this structure is something no one expected.
This article contains spoilers from Chapter Four of the main story that belongs to Fontaine.
The Introduction Of Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale
The writers of the main story in Genshin Impact didn’t shy away from introducing the Oratrice as it wasfirst mentioned during the first few dialogues of Chapter Four. It happens when you reach Fontaine and talk to a couple of NPCs. These people tell you about the judgment system of Fontaine and how they’re called performances.
An NPC named Rena also mentions that the final verdict is first delivered by the Iudex Neuvillette, which is later confirmed by the Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale.The Oratrice’s verdict is considered the major one, however, both Neuvillette and Oratrice have always come to the same conclusion in Fontainian trials.
It’s also mentioned that the Oratrice has never given a death sentence to anyone found guilty.
The Judgment Of The Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale
It’s known that the Oratrice converts the Fontainians' belief in the Hydro Archon to Indemnitium during a trial. Apart from powering the Oratrice,this Indemnitium is also used to give energy to every structure in Fontaine. However, its main use during the story is seen as the Oratrice giving out judgment during trials.
There are a total of four trials in the Traveler’s journey to Fontaine, and here’s the role of the Oratrice in each one of them:
The Lyney Trial
In the first trial, magician Lyney is accused of the murder of one of his assistants because of a malfunction in his final magic trick. This trick started off by putting a random girl in a box, andshe was supposed to magically appear in another box. However, the person in the box was his assistant who died because of a giant water tank falling on the box.
During the trial, we realized howthe assistant was the true culprit behind all of it, and how he ended up being his own final victim. This led to Neuvillette declaring Lyney innocent, which was followed by Oratrice’s verdict. This time, just like the people of Fontaine described, the Oratrice agreed with Fontaine’s Iudex.
The Childe Trial
The second trial of Fontaine starts when Childe a.k.a. Tartaglia is wrongfully accused of the serial disappearance of various young women around the region. After finding all the clues, weprove that Marcel is the real culprit behind it, and he’s also the person known as Vacher. Neuvillette declares him guilty and the Oratrice agrees with him once again.
However, this is also where the first twist regarding the Oratrice happens. Childe, being proven innocent, starts leaving the court but Neuvillette stops him andmentions that he needs to get a verdict from the Oratrice as wellsince he was the initial accused.
Childe complains about this buteventually goes to the standsince he has to follow the rules of Fontaine.
Neuvillette mentions that the criminal behind the case has already been convicted, so it’s obvious that Childe is innocent and has no connection to the case. However,when he turns to the Oratrice for the verdict, it comes out as Childe being guilty. He asks the guards to arrest Childe and assures him that he’ll investigate further.
The Hydro Archon Trial
The final trial in the nation of the Hydro Archon puts her on the accused stand itself. It’s been obvious from the start that Furina is hiding a lot of secrets, and theentire group of Fontaine devises a plan to put her in court to get these secrets out of her. This was necessary if Fontaine was to be saved from the prophecy.
In this trial, Furina is accused of not being the Hydro Archon all along. She provides various arguments and makes itquite hard to prove her guilty, but it’s eventually done using the Primordial Seawater. If a Fontainian touches the Primordial water, they’ll instantly get dissolved, but the true Hydro Archon won’t have the same effect.
Even after knowing this, Furina dips her hand in the water instantly, andthinks that she’s proven innocent since she didn’t dissolve.
However, Sigewinne is then brought to the trial to check on Furina. She confirms that they had diluted the Primordial Seawater since they knew Furina might take drastic steps, andshe did show the effects the water would have on a normal citizen. Being declared guilty, Neuvillette turns to the Oratrice for the final verdict once again.
This time, the Oratrice does agree with the final verdict, but its exact words are as follows:
The Hydro Archon, Guilty. To be punished via the death sentence.
There were two very clear contradictions in this. The first is the fact that Furina’s initialcharge was that she’s not the Hydro Archon,yet the verdict uses the same words for her. And second, as mentioned above, theOratrice has never and was never supposed to give a death sentence as the verdict.
The Truth About The Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale
After a cutscene with the All-Devouring Narwhal, the monster consuming the people of Fontaine happens,the Oratrice gets activated to execute the death sentence. At this point, both Traveler and Neuvillette are taken to a different domain alongside Furina and Focalors respectively, bringing about the climax of Fontaine.
In these domains, you learn that Furina has always been the “human” part of the Hydro Archon, while the"Divine" part stayed hidden and tried to deceive everyone including the Heavenly Principle. Without spoiling too much, this is where we learned the true nature of the Oractrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale.
It was suspected from the start that the Oratrice had a consciousness of its own, but Focalors revealed that she was the Oratrice herself. Shehid in the machine with the Hydro Gnosis for 500 years, and she was the one who gave out all the final verdicts. She also revealed that only a fraction of the energy from Fontaine’s beliefs was used in this.
The majority of the energy, however, was used to build up a sword that would beused to execute the Hydro Archon, and the throne of the Hydro Archon with it. Focalors accumulated all that energy to go against the Heavenly Principles' power and give the power of Hydro back to its initial owner, the Hydro Dragon, Neuvillette.
What About The Verdict On Childe?
Now that it was revealed that the Oratrice was Focalors all along, thefinal question that remains was regarding the guilty verdict of the Fatui Harbinger, Childe. When the Traveler asks Neuvillette about this, he mentions that in Tartaglia’s past, he had fallen into the abyss and ended up waking the All-Devouring Narwhal.
Tartaglia falling into the abyss wasalready revealed in the gameway before.
However, Neuvillette also mentions that it wasnot enough to make Childe the sole perpetrator of this incident. He isn’t exactly sure why Focalors decided to declare him guilty, but maybe she knew that Childe was going to be able to hold Narwhal back until the rest of the Fontainians figured everything out.
