The small details are things that I’ve always appreciated; “Little details sell the big picture!” has been a favorite motto of mine. So when I saw the dais on the Fagaceae Peninsula, I started losing my mind. I thought of it immediately as a mandala or mandala-like.
Mandalas (lit. “circle” in Sanskrit) are circular artforms that function as a “visualization of reality.” A cosmic diagram — a Stellar Matrix, so to speak (teehee). It’s a common feature in many areas with influences from Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Shintoism. There are plenty other uses for the circle (such as a focus/aid for prayer, rituals, etc.) and many meanings attached to it. For example you may see it represent:
Design-wise, it can be as simple as a plain, unadorned circle, or as complex as the mosaics that color temples and other sacred places. One key feature, however, is the symmetry interwoven throughout the design. It’s intended to describe the universe as one — all phenomena are related. Without that symmetry, the world is but an illusion, manufactured by chaos.
Image taken from Encyclopedia Britannica. Mandala from the collection of the British Museum, London.
There are also a few similar visuals you can find in Christianity, as shown by Rosetta Windows of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. While not a mandala in the strictest sense, there is a clear map or theme being portrayed in these works.
Notre Dame Cathedral’s West Rosetta Window.
There’s a few examples in the zeitgeist of games too, especially in games with a heavy focus on religion or ideology! Two are Final Fantasy X and Elden Ring, where the form and design illustrate the underlying stories of the world.
Final Fantasy 10: Besaid Village’s mandala, located in the Temple of Yevon. A delightfully insightful podcast episode by Resonant Arc talks about it in detail.
Elden Ring’s spell symbols/sigils. Clues as to how the magic in The Lands Between takes shape and affects the world. Extracted by u/0ne-Eyed-Dragon.
Moving onto Wuthering Waves properly, I’d like to spend some time talking about the dais that’s part of the exploration quest related to the Shores of Last Breath.
You may notice the “Trinity” of circles lit in the image below. In Christianity, the Trinity is defined as God in three facets — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Indelibly united as “Three in One.” The presence of a “Trinity” is talked about a fair bit by @meicho_shinki (summary translation by @anxientdesu). Take some time to follow the links if you want to dig a little deeper there. Great legwork and theory.
Several other Trinity-likes appear across Rinascita as well, shown below. The triangle-headed acolytes. The seraphim with the tri-circles as part of its body (which I think is very important too; it could reflect the interaction between entities in Rinascita). Lotsof symmetrical threes all across Ragunna.
You can find these statues behind the Cathedral of Mercury, leading to the elevator that leads to the open fields of Rinscita beyond. Also a few can be found across the great bridges that span the landscape.
