☆ timely sumeru ☆

It can 100% be viewed either through the psychological lens of wanting to adorn himself with themes of his homeland, or even having to actively suppress it in the very strange and discriminatory Snezhnayan political climate.

There is definitely something that can and should be said about the way Snezhnayan papers wrote about Sumeru and Deshret. Dottore's been there for at least 400 years, imagine watching how they defame your homeland that you're sitting here silently longing for the acceptance of.

utterly rapt by grief and longing for a home that does not accept him. And if it does not accept him, he will bury himself in the stories and history of it so he can at least feel its embrace in some way.

The fact that you have to *really* stare at him and think for a minute to really understand how deeply Sumeru is woven into his being is so fascinating and depressing. It's there, but people have to be willing to see, to look past the fake idgafer exterior to see someone who is

He utilizes hard light and notably desert themed technology. This points back to all the lingering remnants of Deshret's era that we see in the mausoleums and temples throughout the desert.

He carries himself with a "bird" on his shoulder. This harkens back to the story Dunyarzad told us, about the person who looked for the Dendro Archon only to find she was with him all along, eventually perching on his shoulder as a little bird.

He adorns himself with brass metals and a beaked mask, he's messianic and dons black feathers. This harkens back to Shiruyeh and Shirin; Brass Mask Khorramdin and his messianic nature. The pitch black feathers and mask alluding to Shirin's referring to individuals as "raven."

You look at him and think "oh that's just a mad scientist, that's a plague doctor, that's just a guy who's detached himself from everything." But then you look at him, you REALLY look at him and you start to see things that you noticed throughout Sumeru.

I think a cursory glance not really showing how important Sumeru to him is one of the most interesting and sad things about him honestly. I've mentioned before in the past that Dottore "swaddles himself in the mythos of his homeland" and I stand by it.