Anilyan in Teyvat

Ari or Anilyan | they/them | 25yo | portuguese || Arts in theme by FridayNightCat (twt). || Space dedicated to Genshin brainrot and filling the void in my heart since I stopped blogging. INFJ, multishipper, 3D and 2D artist, fic lover and writer.

[yaeggravate]

fun fact: the swirl pattern on the seelie are on nicole's dress

[yaeggravate]

imagine being so unoriginal that you have to resort to stealing someone else's content for clout

[anilyan]

If it's worth anything, the first thing I thought when I saw that post on twt was that "I bet that tumblr account will be happy about this and point out how it resembles Kaeya's symbols too"

I barely even check tumblr or your corner, but your vibes were that clear xD

[anilyan]

The future saves the past: How Venti traveled to the past, became the Bard, split his soul into the wisp, and sacrificed to save Mondstadt

For a while, I theorized that the Nameless Bard had Time powers [you can see here how much pointed to that since the beta]. That was now proven true, and, before, I though the bard was a normal human who just managed to manipulate Time, perhaps borrowed from Venti.

Now? I think he is Venti, who traveled to the past, split his soul into the wisp, and sacrificed and got erased in order to save future Mondstadt.

It all clicked thanks to AQ where Columbina traveled to the past and created Luonnotar, then merged back - both times involving a chemical marriage.

(If you don't like to read, the pictures are at least half of what you should retain)

(I also add possible connections with Istaroth)

Disclaimer: I have in the past written a separate theory proposing that Venti is Phanes (but not the Primordial One or the Heavenly Principles). I have notes about it:

It’s such a long analysis that 1) points explored there will be relevant regardless of what theory proves true 2) it didn’t fit reddit’s character limit, so you have to read in notion, tumblr or even ao3

It helps if you understand how the game relies heavily on the concept of the chemical marriage [my link] (union of opposites - sun and moon, male and female, dragon and seelie). It’s what brought most ancient civilizations to ruin, and it can be used in 2 directions:

One: To split the soul, a necessary step for the creation of hiveminds. Examples: Remuria, Deshret’s Golden Slumber, Ochk-kan and Cocouik;

Two: To join body, spirit and soul. It’s meant to create the philosopher’s stone that imo parallels the egg/pearl and grants the power/authorship to change the world, and is an alchemical process that the game recently brought to the forefront. Examples: Durin, probably Phanes

Wisp Venti was someone’s soul. That was important to my Phanes theory (where I explained how Phanes was the soul fragment of the Primordial One, and drew parallels between PO<>Phanes and Ochkan<>Cocouik, besides listing how Venti could factor there). Now, I think Venti was just a metaphor, and he is instead the soul of the Bard, at most connected with Istaroth too.

The previous Phanes theory contradicts the current one in some points, but they aren’t necessarily incompatible. Depends on how Hoyo chooses to execute the specifics, and how far back Venti will manage to go.

Section 1: The Bard’s connections with Time and Venti-related stuff

» The Bard’s confirmed connections to Time

We have now confirmation that the Nameless Bard utilized time powers, at least once, thanks to the artifact set A Day carved from Rising Winds. We know this:

Decarabian, upon being killed, was going to “explode” like gods tend to do, and wipe everyone in the area.

To avoid that, the bard’s body “became the instrument, strummed strings that once belonged solely to the Master of Time”. The powers were too strong for him and in, doing so, his existence got erased and forgotten.

Venti later salvages his name and Fate with powers from Istaroth.

It’s theorized that the bard sent the explosion to the future, and that Alice helped contain it. She mentions in her Traveler’s Guide Vol.1 that she went to old Mondstadt and exploded it to make it look properly like ruins, but that reason might be a disguise.

» The Bard saw/knew locations from the future

In the bard's cutscene, when he is bent over scrolls with the wisp at his side, they seem to be talking about locations of the future. The spots illustrated match locations in current Mondstadt - visible from Starsnatch Cliff, one of Venti’s favorite spots and where Cecilias grow.

While it could be symbolic, to represent the pair dreaming of a brighter future, I think it’s too precise to be.

Before the current theory, I thought it could be Venti’s doing, if he already had time powers and could show scenes from the future. Now, I think the bard is the one who is envisioning ad telling the wisp about them - it would be possible if he was from the future.

» The book Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds

It was supposedly written after Venti’s ascension to godhood, but the unascended version of that catalyst contains an illustration of the Nameless Bard (this is actually what kickstarted my delirium a few years ago)

The book itself has multiple anonymous authors, and scriptures were added over time.

The book gained life and escaped its confines after the Aristocracy was defeated, thus the name “Lost Prayers”. Although it seems to be the book that Dahlia possesses.

It contains very suspicious verses that I couldn’t quite fully understand if they were said by Barbatos, the bard, or Barbatos but adapted from the bard in some way.

The figure clearly expected to die and to be merged into the Thousand Winds. They also seem to think that their essence would be part of the land.

The only reason I ruled out the bard for a long time was because, well, it mentions the aristocratic period, which came after the fall of Old Mondstadt. But if the bard was Venti from the future, then it works, and it’s true that the bard ended up being erased and becoming one with the Thousand Winds. In any case, scriptures were added over time so he could have simply written the first scriptures.

The Bard clearly knew what fate awaited him. According to the plume from the artifact set A Day Carved From Rising Winds, he says: "Until the breath of dawn erases my name, and reveals for you the light that is true." Venti, when acquiring time powers, managed to salvage the erased name of the bard and also apparently his Fate. So, if the Bard was Venti from the future who went back to the past, it would make sense for him to know what Fate he inherited.

In the artifact, that whole “do not grieve for me” section, echoes closely what was written in that book. Here are the respective passages of both for comparison:

From the book: “Children of the Anemo Archon, heed these words: From the winds we have come, and with the winds we shall go. Never, ever grieve for me. 'Tis but my flesh and bones which rest in the soil: My soul has become one with the thousand winds. When flowers bloom, when leaves sway, That is me who sings the songs of freedom, of the winds.

Bard’s dying words: "My dear friend, take now this breeze of a thousand years, and with it, a yearning for joy, and dreams of liberty. Do not grieve for me. While the winds still blow, folk shall sing as I once did, of their hope for tomorrow."

» Windblume and the Thousand Winds

The windblume festival was invented in Old Mondstadt, as a celebration to the Thousand Winds of Time. Venti only borrowed the powers of time AFTER the rebellion, so gratitude can't be the reason.

Many people in Old Mondsatdt (From the Gunnhildr Clan, and likely Amos too, who looks like Istaroth and is implied to be a prophet due to her dreams and inspiration behind her name) have been revealed to be descendants of Arcadia. We visit the ruins of Arcadia during Kaeya’s quest, where he says “thank the Thousand Winds”, so it’s possible that Arcadia was an ancient civilization with connections to Istaroth

The Windblume Star is the person who made the most sacrifices.

The Windblume represents an undefined flower, and was used as a codeword by the rebels.

The game contains a bow called Windblume’s Ode.

It’s described as: The bow adorned with nameless flowers that bears the hopes of an equally nameless person.

The flowers in the bow are very similar to one type of flowers that appear in the bard’s cutscene.

Funnily enough, the flowers resemble a lot how the plaza with Venti’s statue looks from above, in turn looking like a clock thanks to the winds. It’s also the place where the main ceremony of Windblume is held, and where they ask the Windblume Star to pick a flower

» Windblume flowers and Cecilias

The bard’s trailer contains 3 flowers that don’t match exactly to any flower from current Mondstadt, despite similarities:

The bard was associated with Cecilia-like flowers - it was pinned to his chest, and was also in the banner of the rebels. They aren't the same, and it’s possible that they didn’t exist back then - despite being fit for windy places, like Decarabian’s Mondstadt.

There are flowers that resemble blue Windwheel Asters

The other blue flower doesn’t match anything besides the map representation of the statue from above, that looks almost like a clock, in the location where current-day Windblume is held. It also resembles the flower in the bow Windblume’s Ode

It’s possible that the flowers were purposefully different from any known flower. That would make sense since the rebels invented the Windblume as a codeword, and Venti in the present tries to stay faithful to that principle and refuses to pick a singular flower to represent the Windblume, although he is partial to Cecilias.

In the plume of the artifact set A Day Carved from rising Winds, the bard once again references the nameless flowers: "Let the nameless flowers kiss away your tears, and grieve not for the parting that tomorrow brings.”

Cecilias in-game:

The only characters in the game connected with Cecilias are: Venti, and Albedo (a prototype primordial human, who uses Cecilias as his Ascencion material too)

In Albedo’s trailer, it says “Earth, the accumulative memory of time and being”, and the Cecilia appears associated with the word “being”

Cecilias were confirmed in an event, and then at the start of Natlan, to represent “the true feelings of the prodigal son”. But that information actually is as old as his announcement, way back in 2019.

That echoes the description of the Cecilia herself, “just as intangible as the true heart of an unbound soul.” The reference to “soul” in that sentence is also interesting given how it connects with the rest of this theory.

In his official dish, it’s said that the only difference with the traditional version is the inclusion of the Cecilia, and yet it adds: “But if you taste it carefully, you can taste the flavor of a wind that brings hope and tiny twists of fate.“

There seems to be a Cecilia in the Dust of Enlightment feather/material, that allows us to reroll artifacts or, in other words, rewrite fate.

Cecilias grow exclusively on Starsnatch Cliff. It’s one of Venti’s favorite places, it’s the place from where we can see all the locations that bard and wisp Venti mentioned from future Mondstadt, and it’s also close to the Thousand Winds Temple.

Domains often show Cecilia-like symbols, typically the triquetra. More about it’s symbolism in the irl references section

Inazuma puzzles possess the Cecilia symbol

Cecilia Garden is one of two regular domain entrances that does not have a Solomon's knot above its doorway, the other being Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula. It’s unclear when that Domain was created. There are ruins in a similar architecture to Decarabian’s Mondstadt around Cecilia’s garden, and it’s possible that Decarabian’s reach went that far, but we can’t say for sure. We also can’t really say if the name “Cecilia Garden” was only adopted after Barbatos became archon, or before. We know that the civilization who lived in this domain grew Cecilias in greenhouses.

Columbina’s body became the land, and flowers in Nod-Krai react to her emotions and Kuuvaki fluctuations because Kuuvahki is a part of her power.

A similar thing might happen to Venti when he dies as the bard, and wisp-Venti-turned-Archon might be able to use that to terraform the land and basically wield his wishes for the Mondstadt they both dreamed of.

The Cecilias might be born in that moment, representing what both of them felt - thus defined as “the true feelings of the prodigal son”. This would also tie with Albedo associating Cecilias with “being” in his stance about Earth.

The Natlan Summer Event in 2025 revealed that Venti has Time powers bestowed by Istaroth

That opened up some possibilities regarding his involvement in past events. Namely, that many things previously attributed to Istaroth might have been done by Venti instead.

Istaroth is indifferent and aloof, so why would she bother getting involved and helping? Although she might be faking it. But her appearance doesn’t include a single Cecilia.

One example: When the Traveler goes back to Ei’s battle against the Shogun where, after winning and changing her opinion, Ei plants a seed left by Makoto in the past, which transformed into the Sakura tree that protected Inazuma in her absence, effectively creating a Loom of Fate. It’s possible that the one interfering was Venti, using the authority borrowed from Istaroth, since we see a Cecilia in the cutscene with the wrapping, and Venti was the one likely present during the cataclysm (before heading to save Mondstadt), capable of making a plan with his friend Makoto.

Cecilias in HI3:

They are the symbol of the House Schariac, known for Divine Maidens, warriors who have a chance of taking in the Holy Blood.

The Black Abyss White Flower in that game, a ‘Divine Key’ and weapon from the civilization’s Previous Era made specifically to kill herrschers, is also a Cecilia. That Abyss Flower is wielded by the character Cecilia Schariac.

Istaroth turned out to NOT be an expy of HI3’s Cecilia, and has no cecilias in her design - Venti seems more connected to the flower than her.

As u/daydream1437 on tumblr pointed out: They are also a key of creation, which is relevant when Phanes is a deity of Light and Creation

It ties very well with how the game recently confirmed that Venti is “The Sentinel who holds the Key” (source: Lunar Arcanum V: The Hierophant)

Cecilia references irl:

An inactive user in this post found that the name Cecilia possibly came from a Latin word meaning "blind", and according to this source, “Cecilia is as much to say as the lily of heaven, or a way to blind men.” SexyPoro also commented that it’s a variant of the word caecus, that can mean other variations of blind, such as Devoid of light, Vague, Aimless, Invisible, Hidden, Secret, Obscure

Caecus sounds like Caerus, a deity who:

Like Hermes, he has wings in his feet to fly with the wind.

Is an alternate spelling for Kairos, a greek word for permanent time, and how Istaroth is called in Enkanomiya

The Saint Cecilia is a virgin martyr in christianity, and the patron of musicians, composers and poets.

The closest real inspiration would be the flower trillium, which represent the Holy Trinity in Christianity, in turn correlated with the chemical marriage (another int to the splitting/union of body, spirit and soul)

Cecilias look like triquetras, once again connected with the Holy Trinity in Christianism, while in Celtic culture it represents the triple goddesses.

» Millenial Movement weapon set

Venti’s first signature bow was the Elegy of the End, which belonged to this set. The weapon creates a visual effect, Millenial Symphony, similar to Irminsul-like terminals

It belonged to the set Millenial Movement.

The set contains more information on the story of Old Mondstadt

The name probably also derives from Thousand Winds (in my language, the word for thousand and millenial are literally the same)

In the beta version of this set:

The descriptions mentioned that all the weapons were given to the bard by the “Anemo Archon” (which sounds like it’s being written from a present-day perspective, since the Anemo Archon didn’t exist in that time)

The old description also mentioned that the bard had seen “countless worlds”

One weapon of that set that ended up never being released was the Catalyst. Ironically, it was released with the exact same lore and description in 2025 - but it wasn’t a catalyst anymore, and instead became Venti’s new signature bow, The Daybreak Chronicles.

» Daybreak Chronicles, Kreuzlied and rebels with time powers

As mentioned, the new signature bow has the same name and lore as a discarded catalyst from the beta version of the Millenial Movement series.

It tells the story of the alias Kreuzlied, used by many rebels across the history of Mondstadt, many of which from Old Mondstadt. The alias is used often negatively, associated with rebels destined to fight and fail, since the name derives from a punishment created during the aristocratic period.

The last figure who used that name was from the Aristocratic period, and a member of the Wandering Troupe.

They were 4 figures who fought with song, who traveled through places with time anomalies like the Mare Jivari and were fine

They used an hourglass that was also a lyre to mark the tempo of their battles - “when the performance was coming to an end, the Troupe would play this harp” (turn the hourglass/revert time?).

They met their end when trying to free the people of Mondstadt, failing, but the member who went by the name Kreuzlied was spared due to being a Lawrence, and managed to keep supporting the rebellion.

More: he was the wielder of The Bell. Yes, that awful weapon… that literally has a clock.

Daybreak Chronicles says: “Till at last the final Kreuzlied would-awaken from a thousand-year slumber, answering the small cry of a foreign maiden who had drifted to this land, just as he had once been born from the wishes of a certain youth.”

The last person we knew of with that alias (the one from the Wandering Troupe, mentioned previously) didn’t seem to match this story at all.

So, many people associated this passage with Venti. He is a wisp born from the bard’s wishes, goes into slumbers, and he is possibly trying to help Istaroth, since he declared to feel the hope she doesn’t have anymore. My guess is that he is going to achieve all of this by traveling to the past.

» Constellations point that Vent is Fated to defy the Storm

In Teyvat, constellations dictate someone’s Fate. Let me summarize some points:

Constellations can be mapped into waypoints, which follow leyline logic, and waypoints are (mostly) used by the Traveler who has the will to change Fate

Fallen stars have the power to pull someone into the dream of the owner of the respective fate (see the Unreconciled Stars event)

The fallen stars/meteors in question are called Irminsul Fruit, and we know that the Irminsul is responsible for calculating Fate (it’s really just a big hivemind that people are connected to)

Intertwined Fates are shaped like stars, and described as “A fateful stone that connects dreams. Its glimmers can entwine fates and connect dreams, just as how its glimmer links stars into the shapes of a heart's desires.” It’s implied that the player’s party is the result of the Traveler using these to change a character’s Fate in order to bring them along, in an alternate-timeline type of thing

Hydromancy allows the reading of Fate thanks to the reflection of stars in the water

We have cases of playable characters realizing what their Fate was, and literally quoting what their constellations say. For example, Hu Tao during 2025 Lantern Rite. It’s reasonable to infer that the same will apply to other characters.

Alright, so why is this relevant to Venti and the Bard?

Vent’s constellation names are, for the most part, obvious and not that special: Splitting Gales, Breeze of Reminiscence, Ode to Thousand Winds, Hurricane of Freedom, Concerto dal Cielo and Storm of Defiance

It’s the last one that I want to focus on. I also confirmed that the name is translated correctly from chinese.

While it can be a hint that he might want to defy… Celestia, Fate? - I don’t think the inclusion of ‘Storm’ there is a coincidence.

Venti would be the one creating the Storm, which would work given his Anemo Powers. But I wonder if we can also interpret this as “Defiance of Storms”.

Decarabian was called Storm Lord and created a Strom barrier around Old Mondstadt. If the Storm Venti defies is his, it wouldn’t make sense for this constellation to be the last one… unless his Fate took him back to the past, to when the Tyrant existed.

It's represented by a shield being broken, and Venti doesn’t have any associations with shields. The only other shield I can imagine him trying to break, besides Decarabian’s barrier, could be the Firmament, but the story of Decarabian and other ancient civilizations are an allegory for the story of Teyvat and the Primordial One, Koitar, etc

Final constellations really are important and I wouldn’t be surprised if Hoyo hid his Fate under our noses from the beginning.

» Other relevant symbolism

Divine imagery: Why would any of this be done if the bard didn’t possess any divinity, or connection with the seat of Anemo?

The bard was repeatedly framed in religious imagery, similarly to Barbatos

The bard literally is introduced framed in the Queen chess-piece, the same one that Venti has, that represents his status as Archon.

Barbatos’ old lyre: The cutscenes don’t really depict this, but it’s theorize that the bard’s lyre was the Holy Lyre der Himmel, that wisp-Venti-turned-Archon picked up upon the Bard’s death.

We know that, canonically, Barbatos used that Lyre at first - we don’t know if it really belonged to the bard, nor how it ended at the hands of the Church

People theorized, derived from the previous guess, that the bard’s name was Himmel. If that is true, could this be a sneaky way to preserve his name? Since Himmel means sky, it wasn’t a word that could really be erased, just the association

The bard’s lyre was different from other lyre’s in Old Mondstadt, aligned with models from the future. Lyres back then were huge decorative pieces, not instruments meant to be portable, as stated in the description of this teapot item [Tenor of the Wind].

Apples (the fruit of Fate) and seeds of stories:

This section was more relevant to my [Venti is Phanes] theory, that I still recommend since a lot of sus things about Venti are not explained by the theory in this post. But I still think this particular point can still provide extra insight to the current theory.

Venti has MANY associations with apples

His head in wisp form is shaped like an apple, with the top with a stem and leaf

He is always asking for apples, even as payment. He also offers them sometimes. He also really enjoys apple cider.

While terraforming Mondstadt, he created the Golden Apple Archipelago

Speaking of golden apples, he literally offers one in one of his birthday arts, and the text that accompanies it is one of the most suspicious things ever: “It is written that there is a whole tiny world hidden inside an apple core. Here, this half is for you. Let's take a stroll in the tiny little world. But remember to keep it a secret because... you're the only one I want to bring there.”

How mythology maps to the game:

Apples are seen as the Fruit of Fate in anime (ex: Mawaru Penguindrum) - in Inazuma, the girl giving Fortune Slips is called Gendou Ringo (Ringo means apple).

In Sethian Gnosticism, many interpret the forbidden fruit, that the serpent tempted Adam and Eve with, as an apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Greek Mythology has the Golden Apple of Discord, while in Irish Mythology, golden apples are depicted on the Silver Branch of the Otherworld.

Other noteworthy references and notes:

In Lyney’s teaser, the apple he holds transforms into the moon.

Amphoreus/HSR presented a golden apple as the Fruit of Time, obtained after playing a tune on wind chimes. It’s described as “the treasure at the end of the adventure, and the benchmark of a legend’s prologue”

Venti is always quoting that “seeds of stories, brought by the wind and cultivated by time”. Considering how the Irminsul stores stories, and is the truth that people perceive, then who planted the Irminsul (Nibelung?) basically planted the world.

In other words, the seed of the Irminsul is the Genesis Pearl/dragon egg/etc referenced in the Gnostic Chorus cutscene - which is narrated by Venti, indicating at least that he knows that information.

In turn, Istaroth has extra relevance in Old Mondstadt given how people worshiped the Thousand Winds of Time, amongst other aspects mentioned in this post

Section 2: How the time shenanigans work in practice

Please check this image:

» Similarities and differences between Columbina and Venti’s journeys

Differences that seem to spell tragedy for Venti:

On one hand, he lacks an anchor in the present. While with Columbina, Luonnotar stays in the present, wisp Venti ascends, lives in the present for a long time, and then that is the version of him that heads to the past

On the other hand, Columbina sacrificed, but she never got erased, nor is that written in her Fate. Venti is not so lucky in that regard

Luonnotar never became anything more than a soul, except when Columbina came back and merged back into her.

I wonder… if Venti as a wisp was a soul, could it mean that, by ascending and acquiring a human appearance, he was becoming his complete self without knowing? Perhaps what he perceived as a loss was, in some ways, the opposite.

Similarities that could work really well:

Every time Columbina was pulled further back, she was pulled by a strong wind, which is appropriate.

Columbina was losing power as she went back, so Venti might also lose a lot of his power until he reaches the time of Old Mondstadt, which would explain why 1) the bard’s braids didn’t glow and seemed fully human 2) the fact he managed to use the winds of time to sacrifice at the end came as a surprised to everyone

Columbina’s body became the land, and Venti’s might too:

That is probably how Cecilias will be born, representing the true feelings of the prodigal son (refer back to my section about Cecilias).

In fact, the book Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds states that: “'Tis but my flesh and bones which rest in the soil” and “When flowers bloom, when leaves sway, That is me who sings the songs of freedom, of the winds.” It passes the idea that he was simply buried, but considering the rest of the context, it might mean directly that his flesh IS the land

» Slumbers as a chance to visit and affect the past + timeline contradictions

First, how could this work?

Maybe his slumbers take him to periods in the past. Just like Columbina traveled through the past and got the chance to influence it, Venti might do the same, and one opportunity for that to happen would be his slumbers.

Although, he might not be able to travel all the way back at once, so he might not be able to reach the moment he was born as a wisp, and that will only happen in his “final slumber”.

Columbina influenced past events, and there are hints that Venti does the same thing. He sometimes confuses the period he is in. We see several instances in the beginning of the game, likely because his awakening was recent. For example:

During the Prologue, he tells the Traveler to meet “at the usual place” which was under Venessa’s tree, but they had never met there at that point

That weird “you don’t remember me?” voiceline that could fit many different theories.

Contradictions regarding Barbatos age+ascension:

Technically, he only ascended and became Barbatos after Decarabian was defeated. That was around 2600 years ago.

We know that the civilization in the Chasm belonged to the Unified Civilization (in other words, from before the Archon War started) - now confirmed by Zibai’s introduction into the game, since she was the region’s envoy, when it was still called Lang-Gan (before it was “nailed”).

But if we explore the Chasm, we can find this [Mysterious Letter] that mentions “the lyre of Barbatos”… even though he couldn’t have ascended back then, eve if he existed.

If anything, this proves at least that Venti is involved in some form of “time travel”, and is able to reach the time of the Unified Civilization.

» Extra notes:

Wisp Venti never knew they were the soul of the Bard. I think it’s clear that the bard never told the truth to the wisp, contrary to Columbina, potentially to preserve the loop.

Wisp Venti was driven to steal the bard’s name and fate as soon as he got hands on Time powers, to deal with his own mourning - with the goal of taking the bard’s fate upon himself (and potentially revive and save the bard, who wouldn’t have that fate anymore, in a new samsara or something).

Perhaps, since the bard knew that the wisp would do all of that, he opted to hide the truth. If the wisp knew the truth, they would realize that taking the bard’s Fate would just mean it would doom them to a loop, and he wouldn’t do it.

Does Venti currently know? He clearly knows what Fate he stole and decided to wear, and seems to know he will eventually be erased and merge with the Thousand Winds (see my analysis of Lost Prayer to the Thousand Winds, and consider for example how he is hiding it from Barbeloth).

Maybe he doesn’t realize that he will meet that Fate by traveling to the past, and that the bard was always himself. It’s possible that he expects the bard to just be revived one day in some way, or has other plans to try to save him, without realizing that they are the same person.

I think he knows, given how much secret information he is aware about - for that, I recommend once again my [Venti is Phanes] theory (still has lots of useful analysis). Much goes unexplained by the current theory, from how he seems to know the Sourcesong, how he is the Sentinel who holds the Key, how he relates to so much in the gnostic myth…

» Venti and Istaroth

A possible relation, that could even explain things like their shared VA in all languages… is that Istaroth is a Venti who went through a Thousand Cycles

Canon: Venti is a thread of the Thousand Winds of Time. The Thousand Winds of Time is Istaroth

If my theory is correct, Venti is stuck in a perfect loop. Bard splits soul (wisp) » Bard sacrifices, merges with the Thousand Winds and body protects the land » Wisp gains human form by uniting with the land and becoming whole, not just a soul » Barbatos acquires time powers » Barbatos goes back and loop restarts

No new people or timelines are created. It’s all the same soul, the same land. Even when the bard gets erased and merges with the thousand winds, that only happens in spirit, because the body goes to the land, and the soul was already outside the host who dies. The spirit keeps being merged and unmerged, while the body and soul are recycled, and the only point where all three are together is when Venti exists as Barbatos.

If Venti goes through this a thousand times, and gains the authority of time in each… wouldn’t that mean that, at the end of a thousand loops, he would have gained the full power of Istaroth? And at every death, he merges back with her. A thousand threads of wind gain the power of time a thousand times. He is literally the Thousand Winds of Time

I can’t say that Istaroth shows up after Venti goes through a thousand cycles, in part because Venti needs Istaroth to exist to be able to pull this, but the thing with Time is that it doesn’t have a beginning or a end

Extra thing I noticed: Old Mondstadt existed 2600 years ago, and was the period when Istaroth was most involved. The aristocracy of Mondstadt existed 1600 ago, and by then, Istaroth had already been forgotten and her temple was repurposed into an Arena for slaves. It’s… a thousand years of difference. Istaroth is called the Thousand Winds. At this point, I really have to wonder if that’s just a coincidence.

» Hoyoverse is the one idea company, and we have seem this many times

For better or worse, we have seen this before. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if most archons (all those with a double), phanes/the PO and the traveler were stuck in a similar situation.

With the Traveler: We have pseudo-gotten confirmation that they are in a loop already, thanks to the AQ A space and time for you. I wouldn’t fully call it a timeloop, although it’s still a useful term, but I recommend checking [this video from Ashikai] for a detailed explanation

Khaenri’ah: Was literally created in the present, or at least in the space where the traveler’s existed, thanks to a Loom of Fate. But it’s a recreation of the past Khaenri’ah, woven from the memories of Dain who knows that the cataclysm will happen, and is consequently bound to repeat the same Fate.

Archons besides Venti: Nahida is another branch of the Irminsul, like Rukkhadevata was, and described by the previous Dendro Archon as “me in another samshara”. Furina is the human aspect of Focalors, so they are technically the same person in a way, and it relies heavily on the splitting of the soul allowed by chemical marriages. Ei and Makoto are twins - but many people theorize that actually, they are also the same person, or even that Ei was never Makoto’s sister and was created (cloned? sometimes with remnants of the electro sovereign or of a moon, depending on the theory) and implanted fake memories. Why would Venti be any different?

Primordial One/Phanes: There’s a reason why I thought Venti could be Phanes - I guess he was just the perfect metaphor (although I will celebrate if Hoyo actually makes them one and the same, since a lot of what I found for the other theory still isn’t explained).

Examples from other Hoyoverse games: Look no further than the Mem/Cyrene/Elysia situation during the Amphoreus arc of Star Rail. I basically think Venti will stay in an Elysia situation

Teyvat - and perhaps the rest of the Hoyoverse, judging from recent revelations in star rail about the Terminus universe loop - uses a time-cube model. I will try to summarize the main points, to show how the cases above make perfect sense:

As the game puts it, time is a cube (sources: Time Trekker and a speech from Natlan’s AQ1 by Mavuika). That means all of the events are contained within that cube, at the same time, so all that will happen has already happened. Minds are nor able to perceive everything simultaneously, so they need to sort it through cause and consequence, but there is no actual beginning and end.

If we go with a book metaphor, or a stage play, we can imagine that chapters or scenes all exist at the same time (for example, the book encapsulates all chapters, already written). But the order in which they are perceived is dependent on the reader/witness - nothing stops them from opening pages at random and checking the story out of intended order.

Authors can break free of fate, or change it. They can add following volumes with new details and revelations, that can re-contextualize past scenes already written (technically that’s also what Hoyo does all the time: if we learn that the bard was Venti all along, that is literally an example of such). If the witness, and everyone, start perceiving things differently, the new interpretation becomes the truth of the world. It’s also what Durin was managing to do when he added twists of fate in Nod-Krai’s quest, getting to talk to people from Hyperborea despite not managing to change their fate fully, and he broke free of his own fate by becoming an author. Venti has many indications that he tried to do the same over time, and Wanderer also realized that truth during Durin’s quest, amongst many characters who take advantage of this to different degrees.

Another way to try to change fate, although less successful, is by destroying information. The abyss can literally be perceived as ink that stains words in the book, and if we go with the computer metaphor, information can also be deleted from the database. However, the rest of the story will still stay intact, so the reader and the characters inside will try to make sense of everything else by filling in the gaps of the absent information. It’s also semi-implied that the abyss doesnt fully destroy information, but absorbs it and stores it somewhere else instead - that’s how he learns how to mimic, for example.

This is why Hoyo’s theme is “the future saves the past”. Because, to change fate, someone in the future has to add scenes to what has already happened. The past can’t change itself, and it can’t change the future either because it’s bound by an already realized fate. It’s also why the Traveler is so important, because they aren’t affected by the irminsul and can just witness scenes in any order they wish, and by not losing information when irminsul erasure happens, their sense of truth is never tampered with - so they could technically go and add the missing information later, similarly to what the Wanderer is doing about past events. They could also lie, technically.

Looms of Fate are often represented through Irminsul Trees, and can be thought of as computers with alternative databases, that can compete with the idea of truth of the majority of people. If we go with the book metaphor instead, they can be history books written by authors that didn’t become so popular, and consequently don’t influence the opinion of the public about what happened to a relevant extent. They are also always planted by authors/witnesses/gardeners ig. Basically people in the present who decide to write their recording of how they perceived history.

Ending notes: How I feel about this

I feel conflicted, for several reasons. I will go over the themes, Venti’s experience of loss, and how fandoms approach conflicting ideas.

» The themes of the game:

Hoyoverse is the one-idea company, and has several themes going on that, for better or worse, are going to keep being reused. That alone brings mixed feelings. On one hand, the fact that they always pull the same tropes can lead to a sense of repetitiveness and even “laziness” on their part, especially after we crack how it works. On the other hands, it’s a way to keep themes cohesive, and write stories that rhyme and have some poetic parallels. It takes skill to fool people for so long, and to use every instance when this happens to reveal just another piece of the bigger puzzle, since I think they are aiming to slowly show the story of the universe itself.

For people who don’t like this repetitiveness, I really recommend stepping away from Hoyoverse titles sometimes. I don’t see this going anywhere else. Personally, I think I’ll stick around, since plot and the “what” doesn’t matter to me (that’s why I love spoilers and even story leaks), and I only care about the “how”.

Now, what themes does hoyoverse actually tackle?

Power and love for humanity: Genshin is particularly clear that it’s a story about giving power to humans, over their own Fates in particular. Almost every arc serves that purpose, and dragons and gods of all kinds are in decline. Besides that, many figures in the Hoyoverse - especially god-like figures, like Elysia - have an arc tied to protecting humanity, and sacrificing out of love for humans.

Freedom to write their own Fate: I have a whole section about how Teyvat works: The Irminsul, the hivemind, the dreams, and time-space itself. I also demonstrate briefly how, to break free from Fate, someone has to become the author of their own story, like Durin has done. But most often, people can’t do that, they can only write tiny twists to fill unspecified information, which is something Venti himself has been trying to do for a long time, along with other characters. Keep in mind that gods are also tied to Fate, so this point isn’t so much about humanity, and about Teyvat as a whole.

The future saves the past: I mention this one in the theory’s title because, well, is the theme that fits more clearly. It works thanks to the time-cube model, so changing something in the present affects the entire truth/taints the whole cube. That’s also why time paradox arcs align well with the story of Genshin.

Are these themes being undermined if this theory turns out true?

The “future saves the past” point definitely isn’t being undermined, and thankfully no one argued that. As for the others, it comes down to interpretation - but I think this theory would reinforce the themes, not the opposite.

First, the rebells are the ones who take down the Tyrant. Without them, there would be no victory, and all of humanity within the firmament has to bond together to fight their oppressor - which in this case, it’s Decarabian with his barrier. I think this is a metaphor for the whole story of the game, and how the Traveler might unite humanity against the Primordial One. If that isn’t enough, the one who killed Decarabian wasn’t even the bard - he was killed by Amos, a human, his own ex-lover. This theory doesn’t affect that at all.

The role of the bard was simply to unite humanity, and inspire them to join and fight for their freedom. This actually makes me more certain of my theory, because it perfectly fits the way Venti has always “ruled”/guided Mondstadt in times of crisis. He calls upon people, but let them make all decisions and be the ones taking action. “What does Freedom really mean, when demanded from you by a god?” Some people are bringing up this quote, but… there is no demand here. If you accept that Venti is not being hypocritical in the present, you would have to accept the same would be true if he traveled to the past, because his actions and role are consistent.

The only thing that Venti does, that other humans couldn’t do, is the final sacrifice. Let me reinforce that he was weakened at that point - as shown by his appearance (bard’s braids don’t glow), the fact his sacrifice surprised Istaroth (so she couldn’t even detect that the bard had time powers), and the parallels with Columbina (she lost more power the further back she went). We also know that the wisp only acquired time powers AFTER the ascension, since he used it to rescue the bard’s name and Fate. So the powers of the Thousand Winds were not as involved as people fear, and they were NOT what takes down the Tyrant, that is the humans doing. This was only relevant to let Venti sacrifice, when he accepted being erased for the sake of preventing humanity from being wiped out.

» How the theory reframes Venti’s loss

I was very attached to the idea of Venti preserving the image and values of his friend, and to Venti and the Bard has their own separate characters: I even have a whole fic trilogy telling the story of Old Mondstadt, and it’s very important that they are separate for that fic. Even if I didn’t, a big reason so many people connected with Venti was because of how relatable and understandable the feelings he shared in his first SQ were.

So I get why people would feel sad if my theory came true. I would as well, because it feels like the mourning was for nothing, pointless. If the bard was Venti, that means Venti never lost someone. But does it?

After siting with my feelings for a while, I don’t think this undoes the weight of the mourning Venti carried, or his sense of loss, nor the way he learned over time to develop into his own person instead of trying to mimic the little he remembered of the bard.

The way I see it, the Bard and the wisp will always see each other as separate, just like Columbina perceived Luonnotar as a being separate from her own person. But there are even more layers.

Yes, when Venti goes into the past, and realizes he was always the bard, he will known the truth - but that only makes his life more bittersweet and ironic, and the loss more profound:

For one, he is going to see all of his old friends, except for the one he loved the most, because it never existed.

He is going to understand that he succeeded in becoming like his friend, and properly preserving his image and legacy, after he had properly moved on and become happy with the person he was.

His attempt at saving the bard, in the moment he stole his name and Fate, was what doomed him and made him fail to break free from Fate.

The feelings of loss he experienced are not undone just because he knows the truth - if anything, they are compounded by knowing the person he loved “never existed”, while also having the comfort that said person was always with him.

Last but not least, he will probably care for the little wisp and want to spare them from suffering, while knowing very well the pain they are going to go through.

As for the wisp, they won’t know they are the soul of the bard, like I mentioned in the theory. They will only feel the loss of someone they love and, by the time Venti tells the Traveler about his backstory, they will be just as clueless. So what Venti shares in that scene, and what he feels, is real, and it’s his truth. He will only find out that the truth was different when something happens that sends him back to Old Mondstadt.

» Canon, Fandoms, and compartmentalization

I feel like many people are not engaging with my theory properly, and instead of rejecting it because of canon I failed to acknowledge, they are rejecting it because it makes them uncomfortable or destroys their headcanons. As I mentioned, it destroys several of mine too, and I understand the initial rejection, since I also felt it. But the beauty of fandoms is that we can bend canon to fit whatever we like.

For example, right above I shared how I view the theory coming true as a reinforcement of the loss and the themes, not the other way around. Is that the correct interpretations? Who knows! But fans don’t have to be correct.

I will also keep writing fics and making content where the bard and Venti are separate beings entirely - while doing the same to the new connection I just proposed. I personally like to hoard headcanons and interpretations, even conflicting ones, and just compartmentalize. That’s why I can be a multishipper, and use contradicting theories for the content I create.

And I understand that not everyone has the same ease in keeping interpretations separate, and feels like canon has the capacity to destroy the headcanons they love. I understand the frustration of spending time and energy into an interpretation that “loses”, and that it can be uncomfortable to see many people jump into a fandom or pairing or wtv over canon revelations that contradict the very thing that made you attached to them in the first place.

However, as someone who is pushing 30yo and is starting to give in to nostalgia, I would love to see fandoms go back to a time where we dictated what parts of canon we wanted to keep, were better at curate our own content, and didn’t beef with people having fun with opposing preferences. More, we need to relearn how to twist canon so it can actually feed our favorite ideas, instead of undermining them. If we learn that, that just means we keep getting more content, instead of having to abandon canon entirely and compartmentalize so much that we are basically playing with OCs after a point (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

Anyway, I think get every perspective in this, I’m not judging. But I hope people don’t reject their theory just out of a sense of “ew this is different from the things I enjoyed”

Good luck with your pulls and your fan-content! No matter what interpretations of Old Mondstadt you have, I am going to love all of them, and it would be amazing if this subfandom grew. Keep being creative!

I am working on a fic for this theory, and this Nameless Bard 3D model, that I will release to the public once it’s ready, and I will recreate the rest of the Old Mondstadt’s cast too:

[anilyan]

Hello hello, I was wondering if you have a discord server? Your designs for the Traveler(s) and Venti and such are inspiring. I somewhat have an au in the works and was wondering if it'd be ok if use some of your designs as inspiration for my own redesign attempts

I used to have a discord server, but not anymore

But you can use any of my designs as inspiration ^^

[anilyan]

Nameless Bard, Kreuzlied, and how rebels used music to control Time

This is a theory that I started writing once leaks of Venti’s new bow came out (although some parts are even older than that), exploring how this alias can work similarly to an ancient name or, for some of the figures who have used it, even represent the same entity traveling through time or wielding time powers. Where one of them was potentially the Nameless Bard.

[Being edited on 15/12/2025]: Since I failed to publish this on time, meanwhile leaks of Venti’s artifact set (A Day Carved from Rising Winds) came out, and confirmed quite a lot of it. So I wanted to post it before letting it fester.

Before I analyze the correlation between Time Powers and rebels (at least in Mondstadt), I want to list some of the things that those artifacts tell about Old Mondstadt. Then I will list all figures who have been called Kreuzlied, explore how the Wanderer Troupe also had time-stuff going on, question parts of the weapon Daybreak Chronicles, and finally ramble about the Nameless Bard and how these recent reveals have been a long-time coming.

What the artifact set told us about Old Mondstadt:

More hints that Decarabian was a dragon (also confirmed as a god-king). I am refering to this passage “A sword piercing the nobility and the poisonous dragon”. Since this is about the Thousand Winds being summoned, it’s possible that the passage refers to some other event, but I list for example [here - in the beginning of the last section, about Mondstadt] how Decarabian and Amos were probably a dragon Sun-King and seelie Moon-Queen pair. I list the evidence I have, from fate shared with other pairs to the failure and madness while trying to attain a hivemind dream.

The bard could use the powers of Time, or at least used them once. This whole post will be about that and I’ve been working on it for months.

When he used those powers in a final sacrifice, his existence got erased from the Irminsul, apparently because he used his body as an Instrument/vessel to play the Melody of Fate (again, I elaborate here) and save Mondstadt. Venti seemingly remembers his name, or at least, “the wind” does. But I’ve been saying for a long long time that erasure was one likely reason why we didn’t know the names of the main figures from Old Mondstadt, especially not first names (same link and section).

Venti tried to reverse time to save the bard, but failed.

The verses of Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds are indeed about the bard, like I have been saying for just as long, and this basically confirmed my suspicion that the pages inside the unascended version depict the bard instead of Barbatos. I will elaborate further into this theory, including the art.

This is a small thing compared to the rest, but apparently Amos was offered to Decarabian as a sacrifice, and was surprised when he elevated her instead, so she confused her feelings for love and devotion and used it as a reason to live and fill her “hollow heart”. She committed many attrocities in the name of love, and the artifacts also confirmed that she was the one who slayed Decarabian (as suspected for years due to the description of Amos’ bow). I don’t think this necessarily denies my theory that she was a seelie, since the evidence I gave about her prophecies (same link as before) and such wasn’t countered, and she definitely had weird things going on.

It confirmed the already-known backstory of the Gunnhildr clan, how they were saved through prayer when they were at the mercy of blizzards outside Decarabian’s city, and later sorn loyalty to Barbatos and crowned him with laurels. But they slay when they swear to take Venti down if he ever became a Tyrant too xD

The artifacts mention Arcadia. The first mention of that place was in Kaeya’s story quest, and the place was mentioned again during the Narzissenkreuz questline [source]. It’s also a place in Honkai Starrail. It’s likely to be some sort of ancient civilization, and a representation of the “center of the world” with a tower that emprisons the Princess (that cares for her flowers/ppl in her eternal summernight garden, etc etc, until a rebel/hero comes to slay the dragon and release ppl from their fates. It’s a recorrent theme in genshin and imo it’s the og story of the first angel that repeats in every fallen civilization, when the seelie/angel moon-themed princess falls in love with the hero or shares forbidden knowledge, especially if there are chemical marriages involved.)

It’s nice that the set lists the name of the clans that existed at the time.

What does Kreuzlied mean, and who went by that alias?

(From wiki:) Kreuzlied in German means Crusade(r) Poem or Cross-song. This is an alias, not a real name, and the game implies (through Goblet of Sojourner and Venti’s new bow Daybreak Chronicles) that several figures throughout history have used it.

Acording to the weapon description, “The word Kreuzlied itself used to mean "The Quartering Song" in the old tongue.” That was because any figure who rebelled was considered a criminal, and consequently subjected to quartering, which was an horrible punishment. This alias became a word associated with those who failed to rebel, but also a cry for rebellion.

Some figures who used that alias, all of which whose names (or at least first names) we don’t know:

Nameless Bard - he was not mentioned in any weapon related to this alias, but he was also a figure whose name was unknown, either likely hidden on purpose, and forgotten to time [update 15/12/2025: it’s confirmed that it was erased]. From Old Mondstadt, he was the bard who lead the rebellion, whose form Venti took after he died in battle.

Nameless Shepherd - listed in Daybreak Chronicles. The weapon Song of Broken Pines mentions that, once Venessa’s revolt against the aristocracy started, he mobilized the true adherents of the Church of Favonius to aid.

Imunlaukr - listed in Daybreak Chronicles. From Old Mondstadt, he was a prominent member of the clan who inherited his name, and joined the rebellion. For some reason, his clan is now mostly forgotten.

Gunnhildr - listed in Daybreak Chronicles. From Old Mondstadt, she was a prominent member of the clan who inherited his name, and joined the rebellion, being the one whose prayers gave some power to wisp Venti.

Ragnvindr - listed in Daybreak Chronicles. Possibly from Old Mondstadt, but since he left to travel at the end of the rebellion after the death of his friends, the Ragnvindr Clan was not necessarily established there, although it was already established during the Aristocratic period when another Ragnvindr joined the rebellion as the Dawn Knight.

Midnight Role - listed in Daybreak Chronicles. No idea who that is

Dawnlight - listed in Daybreak Chronicles. It’s possibly that it corresponds to the Dawnlight Swordswoman mentioned in the Wanderer’s Troupe series

Kreuzlied - that alias is the topic of the Daybreak Chronicles (that might imply he was the last figure using that title, depending on how we interpret the section), but we first heard about him in the Wanderer’s Troupe, and seems to only use that as a name.

How the Wanderer’s Troupe connects rebellion with Time powers wielded through music

First, what do we know about the Wanderer’s Troupe (also known as Swordsman’s Troupe)?

They were a group of people adept both at music and combat, who traveled all over Teyvat around a thousand years ago (although there are some timeline inconsistencies due to the fact they crossed the Mare Jivari and its time anomalies.

The Conductor first met the Sojourner, then the Dawnlight Swordswoman, and finally Kreuzlied.

They eventually joined the rebellion against the oppressive Lawrence aristocrats in Mondstadt, but ended up failing. When they tried to strom the city, they were captured and enslaved. They all either met their demise there, or perished afterwards.

They had a Harp with them, that was the Sands of Eon artifact piece.

“When the performance was coming to an end, the troupe would play this harp.” Perhaps they turned the hourglass to control time, preventing the performance from ending?

The Harp is also strongly associated with both the first angel and Istaroth (who may be the same figure, daughter of the morning star), so those are extra connections to Time powers.

Here is the story of all members, and how it gets interesting:

Conductor: The leader of the Troupe, he used his catalyst The Widsith both as a weapon and to record their adventurer’s, and also contained musical scores. He perished while storming the city of Mondstadt and kept holding onto his catalyst even after death. One of the theme songs that the catalyst grants is Aria, the name of one of the moons of Teyvat.

Sojourner: He used The Stringless bow, and had a sundial that recorded the cycles of the sun and moon, as he is described as a traveler who pursued both Fate and the inexorable passage of time. Fell in love with a maiden in Mondstadt during the Aristocratic period, who had unfortunately be chosen as the Ludi Harpastun maiden to be claimed against her will by a member of the Lawrence Clan (as stated in the manga). When the troupe tried to storm the city to free people from oppression, the Sojourner ended up dying in battle, trying to cover the retreat of his friends.

Dawnlight Swordswoman: Wielder of The Flute sword. When the troupe tried to storm Mondstadt to end the Aristocracy, she ended up being enslaved and put to fight as a gladiator. Despite losing everything, she continued to sing of hope and freedom, and her songs inspired a meber of the Ragnvindr Clan. He witnessed her die in the arena, and took care to bury her with her sword, taking the title Dawn Knight in her honor when he decided to join the rebellion.

Kreuzlied:

Owner of The Bell. Yes, that shitty claymore that doesn’t fit with the style of the others in the troupe… that literally has a clock. The sound of clockwork marked the rhythm of the battles for the Troupe.

This Kreuzlied was a deserter of the Lawrence Clan, so even after failing to storm the city and overthrow the Aristocracy, he wasn’t at least publicly killed, and it’s unclear what punishment was deemed fit for a upper-class traitor.

It’s implied that he survived and managed to continue the rebellion more quietly, establishing a secret society that later supported Venessa when she revolted.

Later, the society kept assisting Mondstadt in the shadows, with the Wolf Pup Rostam even leading it during a time behind the Grandmaster’s back.

The last Kreuzlied: How can the last section of Daybreak Chronicles get confusing?

(this is being written before Venti’s bow is released, making guesses based on the beta description of a scrapped weapon with the same name)

First of all, in the beta version of the weapon with this name, it says “Till at last the final Kreuzlied would-awaken from a thousand-year slumber, answering the small cry of a foreign maiden who had drifted to this land, just as he had once been born from the wishes of a certain youth.”

Part of it fits the last figure we know as Kreuzlied very well: he did technically try to help a maiden being oppressed under the Aristocratic regime of Mondstadt, although that story is more fitting to the Sojourner. [edited post weapon release: I had thought the official release would change some things but the same details remain]. Even the part regarding the slumber could still work, based on my next explorations theorizing he might have been a time-traveler, and consequently potentially needing periods of slumber.

On the other hand, the very last part stating that he was once born from the wishes of a certain youth, resemble the origins of Venti quite well. And we already know that Venti needs slumbers. So it’s possible that he actually is the last Kreuzlied, even though we have never seen him use that alias. Also makes me wonder who is the foreign maiden whose cry he is trying to answer - part of me is thinking of moon maidens, or even the first angel/Koitar/quite possibly Istaroth, but who knows.

There is also the possibility that Venti and the past Kreuzlied’s are one and the same, in other words, at least some of the figures of the past are Venti in different times, Venti has fragments of them, or he basically inherited their fate/role. That is another thing I am going to explore next.

Nameless bard, and his connections to time [confirmed on 15/12/2025, but here you can see how hoyo build up to that]:

» First, yapping about weapons’s lore and CBT stuff:

Some people associate the weapon Elegy for the End (one of Venti’s signatures) with the Nameless Bard, but it doesn’t match him at all. It’s mostly because of the beta description of that bow, that specifically stated the weapon was given to the bard by Venti - however, the same is said for the rest of the old series.

From weapons that made it in-game, Windblume Ode resembles his aesthetics and those of his cutscene far more, and even hint at him by mentioning a “nameless person/flowers” and the Windblume is particularly significant (especially now that we have the artifact set):

The festival was created during the rebellion of Old Mondstadt, and the word Windblume was the rebels’ secret code.

Despite the modern romantic atmosphere, it’s a celebration of the Thousand Winds of Time.

The person chosen to be the Windblume Star is the one who, throughout the year, has done many good deeds or sacrifices for Mondstadt

The fact that he was gifted all types of weapons (from the current Millenial Movement series, that tells of the history of Mondstadt) is intriguing, and could tie with how the Kreuzlied has used many different types of weapons.

It’s interesting how the beta short description of the weapons mentioned that they were a gift from the Anemo Archon to the bard, because Venti only became an Archon after his friend died at the end of the rebellion.

Boring explanation 1: This is beta lore and so the devs hadn’t defined the lore properly back then;

Boring explanation 2: It’s being written from the present, thus using Venti’s current title;

Cooler explanation: Time powers allowed present/future Venti to hand those weapons to him as an Archon, perhaps hidden, perhaps through his past wisp self.

The weapons in the series are Freedom-sworn sword (mostly tells about Old Mondstadt’s rebellion), Song of Broken Pines (mostly tells of the rebellion against the Aristocracy), and the Elegy bow already mentioned. As for that special description catalyst, it was discarded… but it was called Daybreak Chronicles, so, the same name of the new Venti’s bow with the lore I’m exploring here.

For the sake of this theory connecting the Nameless Bard with time powers, I will consider the lore of that old catalyst/new bow, where the catalyst specifically stated that the bard had seen a thousand worlds. That is interesting considering how he supposedly never left the city of Old Mondstadt, because of the wind dome, thus why his dream was to be free of that. He was canonically the only main member of the rebellion who never saw the outside (since Amos has been outside in the snow, the red-haired warrior arrived at the city from wandering the world, and the Gunnhildr and Lawrence clans had managed to leave the city).

» Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds [wiki page]:

The book Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds, so valued by the Church of Favonious that is even carried by Dahlia (who is another can of worms: between his dragon ears, dragon wings depicted all over, and constellation that is a symbol of Decarabian… I theorized he might even be the bard sort-of reincarnated)… has an illustration of the bard. Yes, the ascension has a page depicting Barbatos, but the unascended version with the brownish pages has a figure with the same appearance but a scarf-like and cloak-like thing instead of wings, and is playing a lyre, which is an imagery more associated with the bard than the Archon.

[Written before the artifact set leaks]: The book also sounds as if it was written by someone who expected to die - which might still apply to Barbatos. I’m not saying that the book was written by the bard - after all, it also mentions the oppression from the Aristocracy, and an Anemo Archon, which didn’t exist while the bard was alive. But there are suspicious things there… And those contradictions would be solved if the bard time traveled anyway, but that is finding a solution to plot holes i made up ig. [Written post artifact lore]: I guess the artifacts confirmed just that:

The dying words of the bard, after using the powers of the Thousand Winds of Time, were “My dear friend, please accept this thousand-year breeze, the hope for happiness, and the dream of freedom. Do not grieve for me; as long as the wind still blows, people can, like me, sing of tomorrow’s hope.”

Meanwhile, the words in the Lost Prayers book are extremelly similar: “Children of the Anemo Archon, heed these words: From the winds we have come, and with the winds we shall go. Never, ever grieve for me. 'Tis but my flesh and bones which rest in the soil: My soul has become one with the thousand winds. When flowers bloom, when leaves sway, That is me who sings the songs of freedom, of the winds.”

» Cecilias

The bard is strongly associated with Cecilias: he used a Cecilia-pin on his chest, and also chose it for the banner of the rebellion.

That said, they don’t look exactly like current-day Cecilias, so perhaps they are a variant or a version that was lost to time.

Either way, I suspect it was also a favored flower to represent the Windblume, since the Windblume was originally used as a codeword by the rebels in Old Mondstadt and became a celebration to the Thousand Winds, although in the present is more a celebration of love. And Venti, who knows the full story, has also chosen the Cecilia during Paralogism’s Windblume celebration, even though in the first Windblume he has made a point of saying that he wants “the right choice” to stay unknown.

With Cecilias having so many lore connotations and representing “the true feelings of the prodigal son” - associated with both Venti and Albedo - I wonder how much significance they have when tied to the bard.

There is a lot more about Cecilias that I already explore in my “Venti is Phanes (not the PO)” post

» No names [this has been confirmed on 15/12/2025 with the artifact set leaks, but i’m keeping it so you see my old theorizing]

Just like the shape of the true windblume has been lost to the winds of time, so as the name of the bard. And this is far from a coincidence, since the same as happened to all the old rebels, and might very well be more significant than the names simply being forgotten.

They could have been erased from the Irminsul; They could have been hidden on purpose because anonymity brought more power to the rebels; They could have been hidden because words grant power + names determine fate, and Decarabian was likely a dragon who knew well the power of songs (that he even banned) and words, so the rebels didn’t want to grant him that; Maybe the people of Old Mondstaddt never had first names, since the only figure from there who has one is Amos herself, who was a prophet and probably a seelie (yes I’m quite sure, check for example my Venti is Phanes post for a tiny section expanding on that);…

This aligns well with how the alias Kreuzlied is used by rebels in place of their name

[anilyan]

It’s my birthday, so I’m taking the chance to spread my agenda! ^^

Do you remember what the scribe of Enkanomiya said? “The Primordial One may have been Phanes.” Wouldn’t that confusion be understandable if Phanes both was and wasn’t the Primordial One? Or rather, if was just one part of the Primordial One, aka his soul?

I will argue that Venti is Phanes, and also two things about Phanes (that are technically their own theory):

Phanes is the soul of the Primordial One, just like what Cocouik was to Ochkan

Phanes was created through the Chemical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Yes, I am coming back with a refined version of my old “Venti is Phanes” theory, after studying and organizing my thoughts and what I knew about the lore. The old post was pretty messy.

(I actually spent weeks preparing posts about other aspects of the lore, but meanwhile we got the moons web event that kinda ruined my time to shine, along with some leaked artifacts that basically confirmed much of what I was theorizing about, so I missed my opportunity and the things I was about to bring up won’t feel as special anymore. To feel a bit better, I decided to go back to my true agenda - Venti brainrot, that is. But I will still incorporate important lore parts that I studied into this post, and expand on them properly over time.)

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Section 1: What is Phanes? 2 theories:

First, let me remind you of what the book Before Sun and Moon says:

“The Primordial One may have been Phanes. It had wings and a crown, and was birthed from an egg, androgynous in nature. But for the world to be created, the egg's shell had to be broken. However, Phanes, the Primordial One, used the eggshell to separate the "universe" and the "microcosm of the world."”

The next theories about Phanes, that I will present next followed by connecting it with Venti, may be true at the same time:

» Theory 1: Phanes was born from a Chemical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Many ties between the PO and Istaroth are obvious, not just because she was very very likely a Shade, but also because she was probably the Moon-themed White Queen to the PO’s Sun-themed Red King, who joined in a Chemical Marriage. That produced the egg/pearl/wtv that birthed Phanes, necessary to the creation of the world.

Please notice that there is evidence that, at some point, Istaroth was the Ancient Seelie who married the Traveler from Afar, but that is not incompatible with the fact that she was bound to the PO first. In fact, I think that the fact that she was likely the Ancient Seelie is a crucial aspect, especially given the crown that she dropped, which in turn was probably the golden-ring artifact created by the Rhine Maidens / moons who confered power to the PO. I have posts about that on the way.

Let me explain. I will summarize what a chemical marriage is (I will eventually make a post fully dedicated to this concept, and to show in detail why all the pairs I mention from genshin fit this doomed narrative).

The chemical marriage / chemical wedding is a concept in alchemy that represents an union of opposites: male and female, sun and moon, gold and silver, sulphur and mercury, body and spirit, red King and white Queen. DON’T mistake this with actual marriages or ship stuff, btw.

It’s meant to produce a new and improved product, the Rebis (an androgynous being, sometimes called the Philosopher’s child), or according to some tales, the Philosopher's Stone. That stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver.

(I can’t help but recall that Venus/the morning star, aka Istaroth, in Chinese, is called Jīn-xīng (金星), the golden planet of the metal element - and Istaroth and her rhine maidens/moons/fates are likely responsible for the golden ring/crown mentioned in the drama Der Ring des Nibelungen.)

According to Jakob, the Seal of Chymical Marriage can be used to seal off the source of life, aka the Primordial Sea, which sounds similar to creating a world/pearl/philosopher’s stone/egg/dream bubble that floats in the sea of quanta or wtv is the logic used across Hoyoverse’s worlds. Basically, a necessary process to create the world, or perhaps reshape it and change it to be inhospitable for dragons yet hospitable for humans, essentially what the Primordial One did at the very beginning. In other words, the eggsehll was used to separate the sea, a sea of elements and souls and such that granted shapeshifting and abilities to the dragons, like a sort of hivemind that is incompatible with the individualism of humans. For more info on that, check the Men of Lithin book.

The Chemical Marriage is hinted at by Albedo, through the stages of the Magnum Opus in his Ascension - although in the game, the 2 last stages are swapped, with Rubedo coming before Citrinitas (perhaps to reinforce the goal to obtain gold) in the game.

That process also sometimes involves a dove. It’s in consideration to the 3 parts of a person, body (the king), soul (the seelie) and spirit (the dove), and in Christianity, the dove often represents the Holy Spirit. The marriage is sometimes blessed by a descending dove from starry heaven. The dove sometimes is the one that brings the ring. There are other trinities that can be associated with this.

Last but not least, here are all the pairs I could think of from Genshin that execute this, that I will elaborate in detail on a different post. They are made of a Seelie or prophetic being who shared forbidden knowledge with a King, who tried to save humanity by creating a hivemind, bringing tragedy: Traveler from Afar and Seelie (who may still be Istaroth), Decarabian and Amos, Zhongli and Guizhong, Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers, Liloupar and Ormazd, Remus and Sybilla, Ochkan and Ixlel… and potentially in the future either the Traveler with the Abyss Twin, or the Traveler with Paimon.

We can also compare Istaroth and PO to Chronus and Anake, two serpentine beings who created the egg that birthed the world. But according to some mythologies, what came from the egg was Phanes instead.

It’s technically more complicated than that, here is a list of alternate possibilities I found for his origins:

Phanes hatched from the egg of Chronos and Ananke

Phanes hatched from the cosmic/orphic egg placed in Aether (who was the personification of the bright upper sky and another son of Chronos)

Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge - check this video for more on that.

Sometimes Nyx is also involved - she is Phanes counterpart. In some tales, she is Phane’s wife, sometimes his daughter, and in others she creates an egg from which Phanes is born, so wtv. I don’t know who Nyx is (besides being likely The Night Mother from the book of the Six Pygmies), but it’s pretty clear that the Abyss half is under her responsibility in some way.

Fun facts: Sometimes Phanes is created in the form of a black bird OR in the form of wind (thanks to @daydream1437 on tumblr for pointing this out)

If you refer back to the quote from the book Before Sun and Moon…:

It doesn’t clarify if Phanes and the PO are the same entity or not, the scribe just decides to treat them as the same. I have my own explanation for it, in the next section precisely, but my answer would be “more or less”

It says that Phanes was birthed from an egg, but then proceeds to give a different purpose to the egg, or at least to the eggshell

Here is my interpretation: The PO and Istaroth created an egg/pearl with a chemical marriage, and Phanes was born from an egg. Once he broke the eggshell to be born, the eggshell was used (unclear if by the PO or Phanes) to change Teyvat, to create the world as it is now: a bubble separated from the rest of the universe by a fake sky, less hospitable for dragons, where Abyssal matter and the Primordial Sea stuff are separated from humans, etc. So technically, yeah, Phanes was involved in at least one step for creating the world, and that guaranteed step was the breaking of the eggshell.

This is not in the book, but in the Gnostic Chorus custcene, there is a black serpent tied surrounding the gnostic/genesis pearl. The pearl and an egg are sort of interchangeable, and according to mythology, Phanes is a figure that has the serpent Ananke coiled around him. So that matches up well.

» Theory 2: Phanes is the Primordial One’s soul, just like what Cocouik was to Ochkan

Och-kan, a half-human half-dragon being who hated dragons, sabotaged the plans of his father (the Sage of the Stolen Flame) by following the human Pyro Sovereign Xbalanque - and, after Xbalanque’s death, forbid people from worshiping either the Night Kingdom or even other gods. In his quest to save humans, he became a Tyrant, whose erratic behavior only got worse after excavations that led him to meet Ixlel.

Ixlel was a prophetic figure that used to lead the dragon civilization of the area in the past, who at first was an ally of Och-kan but, upon sharing secret knowledge and prophecies with him, was betrayed. She got revenge by convincing him to use his draconic nature to power his city, by putting his Soul in the Core of Chu'ulel (who later became Cocuik, freed only much later by Bona, after the Cataclysm). Even after Och-kan was overthrown by rebels, he couldn’t die because of that split between body and soul, and his now fully dragon body was used by his father to be an Abyssal conduit, until the interference of the Traveler in the present.

This story has many more details, and once again matches the concept of Chemical Marriage and prophecies that doom Kings, so you can check my post on the topic for proper details.

There are several similarities between Venti and Cocouik:

Color scheme and overall shape is the same, that was literally what everyone first thought when seeing it

In wisp form, he had 3 wings, or rather, 3 separate parts that didnt even connect to his body, they just floated behind him, sort of like the wings of the twins at the start of the game, and exactly like the 3 wings of Cocouik. And in human form, his Vision has a single wing with 3 parts.

The power that Cocouik displays against the dragon resembles the power that Venti lends to the traveler to use against Dvalin in the flying sequences. That is the power to supress the corrosive power of the Abyss - it’s what Venti uses, and it’s in the description of Cocouik’s ability too

The description of Cocouik also mentions a halo, within which the Traveler is protected form the Abyss, and halos are often associated with angels

So… if all of those things are comparable with Venti, why would the fact that Cocouik is the soul of a dragon not be?

Oh, right, there was a sus leak that broke my mind months ago and seemed completely nonsensical, but since I started cooking this theory, I can’t help but look back at it. It claimed that Venti was the guide of the Primordial One. Humm… yeah, if Venti was the soul of the PO, I could see that. Maybe he is assuming Istaroth’s role now that she is gone in supporting the PO?

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List of EVERYTHING sus and interesting about Venti

Some of the following things will correlate to the theories presented above, while others are just fun fancts that I didn’t know where to place.

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Appearance

» Wings:

I already discussed the relevancy of Venti’s angel form and how that ties with being a Seelie, and potentially cursed at first. But the wings are also relevant for another reason: Phanes is described has having wings.

But there is more:

Both in his fake Vision and in wisp form, he only has wings on one side of his body. Just like Cocouik. Possibly hinting at an incomplete nature, or at a duality of natures (dragon and seelie, or the others I already considered)

The wisp wing is formed sort of by 3 wings/parts, and the same is sort of true for the wing in his Vision. The number 3 might just be a coincidence, but it would also fit well with the connections between a chemical marriage and the involvement of the dove, with that third presence representing how a person has 3 parts, body, soul, and spirit. And I already argued why I think Phanes is the PO’s soul.

It’s also possible that this connects with the idea that angels supposedly have 6 wings. So by just having 3 or 3 parts, that is **half of that, aka half angel/**seelie

Funnily enough, in Archon Form he has a wing at each side, and I can’t fully point why that contrast given the previous 2 cases. It’s similar to what happens to Arlecchino in boss form.

Contrary to what the statues portray, the wings in Archon form don’t connect to his back, instead seemingly fusing with his cloak. In Wisp form, and Cocouik’s case, the wings also didn’t connect. That resembles the wings of the twins at the start of the game, the mechanical wings of The Sage of the Stolen Flame, and the wings of the Seelies/envoys always depicted in murals.

In Archon form, the wings have a circular metallic part further hinting at how the wings might be mechanical/not a part of the body. Besides that, the shape has 3 tips, and strongly resembles the wings of the boss Lord of Eroded Primal Fire / Gosoythoth when imitating the form of the Pyro Sovereign. Once again connecting Venti with dragons, although dragons and seelies are really just variations of the same species.

Mondstadt's vision case also has wings - specifically 6 wings / 2 wings with 3 parts (thanks to tamare1307 on tumblr for pointing this out)

» Other characteristics:

Phanes is also described as androgynous, which, yeah, Venti definitely is. Fun fact: His model literally uses parts of the medium female model. The androginity also matters in the context of a chemical marriage between a union of opposites, since Phanes is supposed to reunite the trates of both “parents”. The book Hymns of the Far North also reinforced the androgynous nature - although, just like with Before Sun and Moon, there is no clear distinction between if it refers to the PO or Phanes, which neither confirms nor denyes the theory that they are separate-but-connected, since scribes are not sure themselves if they are the same entity.

The gender-neutral appearance is not the only fusion relevant here. If he turns out to be part dragon part seelie, that is just as relevant.

One thing lacking in Venti, that Phanes has, is a crown. Not even his Archon form has one, at least, not so far. But some people point out that the base of his beret hat has a golden intricate line that could kinda be interpreted as a mini-crown. A recent leak also mentioned that he is going to be crowned (if the link goes down, I include a picture in the next section).

Another interesting point about his appearance is the fact that, in wisp form, the top of his head was shaped like an apple, with even a stem and leaf-shape on top. I will talk about the relevance of apples next.

His whole wisp form heavily resembles Cocouik, the soul of a dragon, and I already went over why that matters in one of my theories. The powers Venti lends to the traveler to shoot against Dvalin also resemble the powers of Cocouik used against Ochkan.

As a wisp, he was often refered to as an “elf”. Elf ears, in genshin and other Hoyoverse games, are often attributed to dragons, and sometimes seelies - with the male characters typically having the ears pointing upwards, and female characters point downwards. Yes, I am claiming that Klee, her mom, Nahida, Dahlia and others have connections with dragons - it’s not just based on Neuvillette.

And ofc, he has a Cecilia in his hat, and I will go over the relevance of that on a later section.

Mondstadt's vision has a crown. Specifically, a 5 tips crown, with the central tip being bigger, which would tie greatly with the PO and the 4 Shades (thanks to @tamara1307 on tumblr for pointing this out)

(Thanks to @daydream1437 on tumblr for sharing these images and reminding me): The Primordial One is often associated with Khaslana characters in the Honkai universe, and some of the draconic-modern elements associated with Venti strongly fit design elements especially from Phainon-variants, from Honkai Star Rail. Pahinon also displays often the dawnstar/Khaenriah star associated with Istaroth, and has one art where he literally is surrounded by 4 of those stars where one of them has different colors, just like the PO has 4 Shades and where one of them was a little special (as seen in the book Before Sun and Moon). Many people think Phainon is an equivalent of the Primordial One… and let’s be real, the similarities with the names of Phanes and Paimon and other important characters don’t help. Oh, he also gains elf ears in his alt form.

» Thematic parallels that invoke strong imagery:

Nibelung/Durin (a massive dark dragon that was corrupted) was defeated by the Primordial One/Venti (winged androgynous being)

The Primordial One has 4 Shades, and Venti established the 4 Winds

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Titles and names (official and leaked)

Fun fact: Voicelines from Archons say “About Venti” instead of “About Barbatos”, although all other gods are refered to with their god name. There are exceptions in the patterns of speaking about the topic from the archons: Furina is an obvious exception, Nahida never met the other archons, etc... Still, when mentioned, he is never called Barbatos. Even Neuvilette calls him Anemo Archon. I explore this more in the section about fake identities.

Venti: It means winds in Italian, but it’s also based on a Honkai character, Wendy, who looks a lot like our Venti. I believe in some languages is even pronounced the same way, although I might be wrong.

Barbatos: His Archon title is taken from real life mythos: He is the 8th spirit named among the list of 72 demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon, while in the Grand Grimoire, Barbatos is named as the sixth of the eighteen spirits who serve the seven superior spirits. He reveals hidden treasures (a very seelie/angel trait), can understand animals (also semi-implied in canon), and when summoned he appears with 4 noble kings (4 shades, anyone? Yeah this one is probably reaching… although Venti established the 4 Winds).

Carmen Dei: It means Song/Spell of God in Latin. Besides the obvious connections with him being a god and a bard, it ties very well with his search for the Source Song- that I elaborate on in the same section where I talk about him knowing songs of the past, present and future.

God of Song: No need for explanation, it’s the same thing as above.

God of Freedom: No need for explanation, he obviously values that a lot and makes sure to give it to Mondstadt.

God of Breeze and Hope: Now this one is interesting, at least the part about “Hope”, since in genshin, hope and light often represent the same things, and Phanes was a deity of Light. To quote Mavuika: “Many insects have a compulsion to follow the light, and humans are the same — except we call that light, 'hope.’” Hope is often associated with materials capable of influencing fate, like primogems and Genesis Crystals (”Formed from within nothingness out of pure potential and hope, it contains enough energy to create a newborn star”), and feather-shaped objects like the Obsidian feathers or the Dust of Enlightment (that… literally has a Cecilia, or so it seems).

Most popular bard in Mondstadt: Self-explanatory.

Windborne Bard: It means Bard born from the wind, which is self-explanatory considering that he is a thread of the Thousand Winds.

The sentinel that holds the key: That is a new title/description given to him in the Lunar Arcanum V: The Hierophant, that fits very well with other mentions to keys that can be connected with Venti, like in the section about Cecilias, or even potential methods to unlock the giant Venti Statue (Gateway to Celestia). This card also stated that Venti is “Powerless to speak of the mysteries of heaven”

Guide of the Primordial One: …I will never find the leak mentioning that again, will I? I swear there was one. I didn’t care about it in the slightest back then because I still hadn’t come up with this theory.

Vague mention of him being “Crowned”: At least I have the source for this leak xD It’s not a title, but certainly indicates (if true) that he will have titles related to that kind of role.

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Symbols

(the cecilia got its own section, just like the apple)

» Queen Gnosis

Arguably the most important piece in chess, not counting the King and its limitations, and it’s also the piece that Venti had (maybe still has, depending if the theory that he gave away a false Gnosis to Signora is correct or not)

Funnily enough, some connect the chess queen's fluid movement to the moon’s shifting cycles, and queens were often linked to fertility and cosmic balance, just like moons were.

It might also be a hint to him currently representing Istaroth’s role in her absence.

» Mondstadt's Vision

Thanks to tamara1307 for this: Mondstadt's vision case literally has wings and a crown, matching the description of Phanes.

And not just any wings or any crown:

the wings have 6 parts, each side with 3, and I have already mentioned how recurring that is in genshin

the crown has 5 tips, the central one bigger than the others, with 2 different pairs of tips. That matches the PO and the 4 shades, and also the dualities of life/death, time/space.

» Rosa dei Venti / Dawnstar

Recently, people clocked that the icons always present in the UI represent the 4 shades:

Shade of Time is the "compass" of the events (I will explain)

Shade of Death is the homa symbol that is so important in genshin, and now we literally know that Ronova has wings like that

Shade of Space is the Sustainer, who shows up in the game by those sta/diamonds precisely, and screen takes us to space to wish for characters

Shade of Life is probably the character icon

Why is the Compass associated with Istaroth? It's not the compass, but rather the 8-point star. It's not just the symbol of Khaenri'ah, but the symbol of the morning/dawn star, and Istaroth is heavily, heavily inspired by goddesses in mythology that represent the morning star, like Ishtar (I will elaborate in my post about Istaroth). I actually have a whole post prepared about this, but believe me when I swear that it's the symbol of Istaroth.

Thing is that, when that symbol is in a compass, it can be called Rosa dei Venti.

... Idk who picked the name Venti, but it's kinda ridiculous in hindsight.

I also wouldn't be surprised if this all tied back to Phanes/Venti being the guide of the Primordial One, like in those sus leaks I mentioned. Thus, the compass.

Last but not least, this symbol, the dawnstar, is associated with Lucifer, the Devil in Christianity, the most beautiful angel who fell after he started rebellion against God. Who shares a lot of similarities with… Phanes. Both are also strongly associated with snakes as well, or in the case of genshin, dragons.

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Cecilias

The only characters in the game connected with Cecilias are: Venti, Istaroth (we see that in Ei’s second story quest), and Albedo (a prototype primordial human, who uses Cecilias as his Ascencion material too)

Cecilias were confirmed in an event, and then at the start of Natlan, to represent “the true feelings of the prodigal son”. But that information actually is as old as his announcement, way back in 2019.

In his official dish, it’s said that the only difference with the traditional version is the inclusion of the Cecilia, and yet it adds: “But if you taste it carefully, you can taste the flavor of a wind that brings hope and tiny twists of fate.“

There seems to be a Cecilia in the Dust of Enlightment feather/material, that allows us to reroll artifacts or, in other words, rewrite fate.

An inactive user in this post found that the name Cecilia possibly came from a Latin word meaning "blind", and according to this source, “Cecilia is as much to say as the lily of heaven, or a way to blind men.” SexyPoro also commented that it’s a variant of the word caecus, that can mean other variations of blind, such as Devoid of light, Vague, Aimless, Invisible, Hidden, Secret, Obscure

Fun fact, Caerus, that sounds a lot like caecus, is an alternatively spelling of Kairos, another of Istaroth’s names. Kairos is a Greek god that resembles Hermes, and who needs wind to fly. Guess that might explain why she ruled Mondstadt alongside Venti for a while, like the Mondstadt saying goes, seeds of stories need to be brought by the wind before they can be cultivated by time.

The Saint Cecilia is a virgin martyr in christianity, and the patron of musicians, composers and poets.

The closest real life inspiration would be the flower trillium, which represent the Holy Trinity in Christianity, in turn correlated with the chemical marriage (remember when I mentioned the addition of the dove so that the number 3 represented body, soul and spirit? And how those 3 parts are important for parallels between Cocouik and Ochkan?)

Cecilias look a lot like triquetras, once again connected with the Holy Trinity in Christianism, while in Celtic culture it represents the triple goddesses (3 goddesses that function as a whole, like the Moirai or Norse Norns, who in turn are a bit like the Tribbies of HSR and the 3 moons/fates of genshin). Triquetras are a recurring symbol in Genshin.

Cecilias are also an important symbol in HI3:

They are the symbol of the House Schariac, known for Divine Maidens, warriors who have a chance of taking in the Holy Blood.

The Black Abyss White Flower in that game, a ‘Divine Key’ and weapon from the civilization’s Previous Era made specifically to kill herrschers, is also a Cecilia.

It’s very possible that Istaroth/Kairos turns out to be an expy of HI3’s Cecilia. She’s known for wielding the Abyss Flower.

As @daydream1437 on tumblr pointed out: They are also a key of creation, which is relevant when Phanes is a deity of Light and Creation

It ties very well with how the game recently confirmed that Venti is “The Sentinel who holds the Key”

Everything here hints at the importance of Venti’s birth and lineage. And while he might just be connected to Istaroth and things stop there, and it would be enough to justify that importance, it’s still possible that it means a little more.

The Natlan Summer Event in 2025 revealed that Venti has Time powers bestowed by Istaroth, and that opened up some possibilities regarding his involvement in past events. Namely, that many things previously attributed to Istaroth might have been done by Venti instead, especially after the revelations that 1) she is fairly indifferent and aloof, so why would she bother getting involved and helping? 2) The reveal of her appearance doesn’t include a single Cecilia.

So, now people look back at scenes where Cecilias showed up that involved messing up with time - like the cutscene in Ei’s 2nd story quest - and think that Venti was the one who allowed Makoto to enact her plan, letting Ei plant a seed in the future/present that sprouted in the past (in other words, a Loom of Fate). With how obcessed Venti is with seeds of stories, preserving the past and the truth, and considering how he probably was in Khaenri’ah at some point during the Cataclysm and consequently was with Makoto… that is at least possible.

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Venti and apples, the fruit of Fate

Here is a list of every connection between Venti and apples that I could find:

In his wisp form, the top of his head is shaped like an apple, including stem and leaf.

He is always asking for apples, even as payment. He also offers them sometimes. He also really enjoys apple cider.

While terraforming Mondstadt, he created the Golden Apple Archipelago

Speaking of golden apples, he literally offers one in one of his birthday arts, and the text that accompanies it is one of the most suspicious things ever: “It is written that there is a whole tiny world hidden inside an apple core. Here, this half is for you. Let's take a stroll in the tiny little world. But remember to keep it a secret because... you're the only one I want to bring there.” Please keep this in mind.

Mondstadt is a land full of apples. There are a few apple trees in Liyue too, and ofc thishas to do with the inspirations behind Mondstadt, so it’s a tenue connection, but still fitting.

More apple connections inside of Genshin:

Especially in anime, Apples are often depicted as the fruit of Fate (look no further than Mawaru Penguindrum), and in Inazuma, the girl giving Fortune Slips is called Gendou Ringo, with Ringo meaning ‘apple’ in Japanese.

(Thank you to u/HashtagLowElo on reddit for reminding me of this) In Lyney's teaser, when Lyney is sitting at the bard with the drunkard, Lyney took his drink and transformed it into an apple scented wine. As the man closed his eyes to drink it, Lyney transformed it into an apple before talking about the connection between miracles and magic tricks while also going on to hold the moon. So, the apple was somewhat compared to the moon.

And if you are not convinced, Amphoreus in literally just presented a golden apple as the Fruit of Time. That is obtained after playing a tune on wind chimes. Honkai Star Rail

Apples outside of Genshin/Hoyo:

In Sethian Gnosticism, in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they succumb to the serpent’s temptation and eat the forbidden fruit (often imagined as an apple) from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is depicted as a good thing, and as the first step towards freedom from Yaldabaoth (a demiurge, chaos entity and false god, who keeps the souls of people trapped in physical bodies).

The Golden Apple is specifically relevant in mythology. For example, in Greek Mythology, the Golden Apple of Discord was thrown by Eris at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, leading to the Judgement of Paris and the Trojan War. In the Garden of the Hesperides, golden apples were guarded by a dragon and were part of Hercules' labors. In Irish Mythology, golden apples are depicted on the Silver Branch of the Otherworld.

...I can’t help but wonder if the connection with apples means that he has secret knowledge and awareness of fates and the future, and is waiting for someone else to learn it too, to assume control of Fate or to break free.

If he derived from the PO, that would also make him sort of serpent/dragon-like, or at least part dragon part seelie/angel. He is probably holding fate in his hands - and if an apple contains a tiny world, according to what he said, holding it is not too different from holding the Genesis Pearl - once again tying him with the Gnostic Chorus.

The fact that Venti has only offered one half of the apple in his birthday art may connect with the fact that Phanes only rules half of the world, while the other half, potentially the Abyss, belongs to Nix, the Night Mother. It may alternatively connect to the idea of Chemical Marriage and union of opposites, since that seems to be a fundamental pattern in Teyvat, as I already mentioned.

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“When I first arrived here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste”

During the Mondstadt Archon quest, Venti says that "When I first arrived here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste".

Here are some guesses of mine that could explain that:

We know that his Archon form presents him as an angel (source: manga, official arts, and in-game arts and statues) and that angels are seelies (thanks to Natlan’s Archon quest). We also know that the Seelies and Moon kingdom fell, probably symbolizing the end of the Unified Civilization, as a consequence of the marriage between a Seelie and a Traveler from afar, who in turn was likely the Second Who Came, who waged war more a less at the same time as Nibelung and his War of Vengeance. Refer to my (future) other theories for more details. What matters here is that, after that event, the Seelies were cursed to lose their minds and original form, thus why they present as we currently see them in-game. And if angels were seelies, that was probably Venti’s fate too, thus why he showed up as a wisp to the bard.

Since he is comparing himself with Dvalin, maybe his curse was instead related with abyssal corruption. We don’t know what happened to the Primordial One who is currently afk, but if Venti was his soul, and considering that Nibelung used forbidden knowledge and maybe even abyssal energy (unsure of how much those two things overlap), perhaps Nibelung tainted the PO in the confrontation.

Alternatively, maybe he was cursed at existence, which could also explain how he somehow got involved with the bard and the rebellion in Mondstadt and possibly didn't have a strong identity before that? If he was derived from the primordial one, and the PO was the Usurper who took the power away from the original dragons, I don’t think it would be unheard of in stories for the off-spring of authority figures to be cursed by those who hated them.

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Knowledge of secret information, and songs of the past, present and future

» About General types of knowledge:

He is the one narrating the Gnostic Chorus cutscene, so he knows about the origins of Teyvat and other important stuff.

He ruled Mondstadt for a long time alongside Istaroth (the Thousand Winds temple was used to worship both of them), so she might have shared relevant knowledge with him from the period of the Unified Civilization, and even from before that.

He knows of others worlds, and titans: "In other, distant worlds…Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and seas…the gods sacrificed Purusha and cut his body to pieces, and then fashioned all living beings with those parts…the brain of the giant Ymir became clouds. Their sacrifices seeded life in the unliving cosmos. These songs sing of the primeval ones."

In fact, he tells the Traveler about that in the manga prologue, and I don't think none of the things there were discarded - in fact, judging by the element of the traveler (Pyro) in this scene, I and some people speculated for a while that we would return to Mondstadt after Natlan.

» About music - I have a whole post on the importance of music for Teyvat incoming:

He claims to know all songs of the past, present and future, which even denotes knowledge that transcends time, fitting for the son of Istaroth, the Thousand Winds of Time - and also for a Seelie/Angel, which we know he is given his Archon form, who were always prophets.

Istaroth is heavily connected to the moons, who controlled the Fates - past, present, and future - and who were named after song and poetry: Aria, Sonnet, and Canon. The loading screen song, that is the theme of Genshin, is even called Dream Aria. Dream Aria might very well be the Sourcesong that I’m going to elaborate on soon.

Seelies/angels are in turn connected to the moons, and they are at least from the period of the Unified Civilization. They, just like possibly the dragons who originally inhabited Teyvat, know well the value of song. That once again matches with Venti, in part because of his angel archon form, and in part because of how he values song as a way to preserve the truth.

People theorize that Venti is trying to find the Sourcesong, or even knows it already, thus why he knows songs from past, present, and future. According to the Aranara, all songs in the world derive from the Sourcesong, that can diverge into different memories, just like a river diverges into creeks, yet just like creeks eventually flow into the sea, the songs converse.

In other words, that definition might hint at the creation of a hivemind and fusing the souls of the people into a collective conscience, similar to what some God-Kings ended up doing in their attempts at saving humanity and controlling Fate, with Remus being the most relevant since he used the Symphony of Fate to weave the threads, and fates, as if they were strings of an intrument. They only attempted those feats after meeting with Seelies. [Check my future post about Chemical Marriage to see an exhaustive list of all cases of that in genshin]

Venti also canonically states he can read the the rhythmic flow of energy dispersed by the Abyss Order and copy its magic with his lyre - that was how he took down the barriers during the Archon Quest.

His constellation is called Carmen Day, "God of Songs", although in practice that's the title he is less refered as. As 4clover31 on tumblr added: "Carmen also means God's Vineyard, plus, the term Carme or Carmen was used by Romans to reference a poem with a ritual and propitiatory tone."

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Venti’s strength

Funnily enough, I don’t find this point relevant for my theory, because even if he turns out to be the weakest Archon currently, there can be many explanations for that, and that is not indicative of his original strength. So it’s possible that he was extremelly powerful and still the soul/son of the PO, while being weak now.

But here is a list of what the fandom usually points out, and the different sides of the argument:

Venti is currently weak:

That’s what he claims, justifying it by saying that the strength of an Archon depends on how much faith the people of the Nation have in their Archon. Since he doesn’t actively rule Mondstadt, and people are free from his influence, he sort of implies that they don’t believe in his enough and that he his willing to let his powers pay the price for his ideals

He hasn’t showcased particularly strong powers even when Mondstadt was in crisis, or when trying to stop Signora from taking away the Gnosis.

We also know he has been gone for a long time, returning to Mondstadt during the Stormterror crisis, so it’s possible that he hasn’t regained his powers.

Maybe he was strong when returning to Mondstadt at present, but he delivered the Anemo Authority to Dvalin by the end of the Archon quest, so even if he lied initially, he is actually weaker now.

Venti is currently strong:

People who defend this argue by using Venti’s own definition of what grants power to an Archon, basically by pointing out how, in some ways, he is more worshipped than many other Archons, even if he doesn’t use that to rule the people. He has a Church, people in Mondstadt clearly pray to Barbatos and mention him often, and they completely adhere and live according to his ideals

As such, there is no reason for him to have lost the powers he once presented, like when he terraformed the land of Mondstadt and also completely changed its weather (after Old Mondstadt got rid of Decarabian, since at the time Mondatadt was covered in snow)

Consequently, Venti simply pretended to be weak out of respect for the autonomy and independence of the humans

Some people who believe this think he was just pretending until the Gnosis was taken, while others think he handed out a fake Gnosis and didn’t even try to resist Signora, and there is even people who think he lost the Gnosis but that hasn’t affected his powers

One thing that got confirmed in the 2025 summer event is that he has powers over time bestowed by Istaroth, in fact, a fragment of her authority, and that he used them to blow the Mare Jivari off the timeline. So it’s certain that he has lots of powers that he never shared, although they might come with caveats - like the sumbers I talk about in another section.

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Sacramental Wine, Dionysus and Phanes

Some myths say that Phanes was Dionysus (god of wine… amongst other things), or Eros (god of love, yes I’m simplifying), and oh boy isn’t Venti the god of all of that too? Although this is complicated since it has to do with gods being iterations of past gods and such.

Okay, this gets less obvious now. Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge.

Let’s keep talking about wine. I have to start by recommending this video by Ashikai that I used for a lot of the info that follows.

Sacramental Wine is consumed after sacramental bread, in celebration of the Eucharist. The Catholic Church maintains that by the consecration, the substances of the bread and wine actually become the substances of the body and blood of Christ, and in genshin, a similar process happens when a being consumes the body/blood of gods - sometimes even inheriting powers and an extended lifespan, although corruption as well.

The different types of liquids/elixirs in genshin can even be compared to real life ones: leyline liquid is nectar, primordial seawater is absinthe, and forbidden knowledge is wine. Refer to Ashikai’s video for explanations on the first two, but regarding wine, in the book A Drunkard’s Tale, a character says: “What you humans call wine, we wolves call the abyss”. I already shared how many things connected to Venti relate to the Abyss, from Cecilias to the origins of Phanes.

Fungi (more specifically, yeast) are required to make wine, for the processes of fermentation, and you can see in the list of game examples below how much fungi are relevant in the process of eucharistic rites and how often they are sacramental, as a way to grant powers or memories. Mushrooms in a circle also form the so-called fairy-rings, and besides the importance of rings in the context of genshin as objects that confer power to god-kings, they are also considered a portal. They are also called witch’s rings.

» Mondstadt and wine

Mondstadt is heavily known for its wines, and not just for the production of it. During the distiling process, the portion of alcohol that evaporates is even callled Angel’s Share, the name of Diluc’s tavern. Angels, or seelies, in turn tend to have alcoholic beverages associated with them (really, watch Ashikai’s video for more evidence).

Wine breewing is also heavily connected to witches, who have strong connections with Mondstadt. The witches are also connected to Venti, as revealed in the second Windblume Festival.

Speaking of witches, I already mentioned how witches’ rings or fairy rings are made of mushrooms and considered portals.

Albedo is a famous alchemist created by the witch Rhinedottir. Alcohol is one of the possible solvents used in alchemy, known as alkahest. In Lulian alchemy, quintessence is a solvent distilled from wine, sometimes called aether. Alkahest is the ascension material used for the sword Cinnabar Spindle, and cinnabar in turn refers to the Rubedo stage of the Magnum Opus. That’s typically the final stage, although genshin swaps it, with citrinitas/gold, but usually the Magnum Opus ties with the Chemical Marriage - you know, the thing I said that created Phanes.

Oceanids are often associated with turning water into Wine. The weapon Dialogues of the Desert Sages supports that idea. The oceanid of Springvale, also sometimes called a fairy, blessed/cursed Diona to always make great alcoholic beverages. Oceanids also strongly resemble Hydro Idolons, and Idolons are the kind of ghost most associated with Istaroth, even being one of the names for the Sin Shades from Enkanomiya.

In the Alchemy Ascension event, conveniently said by Venti while standing with Diona, he says “If alchemy has the power to transform matter… I wonder if it could also be used to turn water into wine?”

Kaeya’s Skewers are soaked in Death after Noon, Kaeya’s favorite drink, and if you check the list of examples, you can see that the medicine for Caribert required drawing water in the early AfterNoon, and it was used to water the mushrooms growing on the body of Caribert’s dead mom. The drink is also made with absinthe. The drink, or Kaeya’s skewers, are also mentioned in many sus quests, like Canotila quest about dissolving people and their memories, and in a dialogue with Xamaran.

» Examples of sacramental food/wine in genshin

The desert is full of such examples, from Apep who got to eat King Deshret after his death to gain his knowledge, to the Consecrated Beasts (”consecreated” even means “blessed”.

Jacob in Fontaine also turned into a Iniquitous Baptist abyssal creature after consuming the flesh of a dragon, and it’s possible that other abyss creatures - not hillichurls - went through a similar process, especially considering how all of them have a type named after religious positions (even mages, since the word comes from “Magi” who was a Zoroastrian priest).

Rukkhashava mushrooms, in CN, are called Rukkhadevata Sacramental Mushrooms. Before the description change, it said that the Akademia Sages consumed them to honor the sacrifice of the goddess, and remember her wisdom, like in a Eucharistic ritual. This mushroom is based on the Reishi mushroom (believed to give immortality in Taoism). Wanderer, who tried to ascend to godhood, and Collei who contains remnants of a snake god, need this as an ascension material.

In the first Caribert quest, we see a red/cinnabar version of these mushrooms. They grew in the body of Clothar’s dead wife, and while mushrooms grow on wood, Norse mythology believes that humans were carved from trees. He also had to draw water in the early afternoon (Death After Noon is the name of Kaeya’s favorite drink) to tend to them, and for the medicine. The medicine for Caribert created from those mushrooms had to be blessed by a god, and it followed a similar recipe to the Memory Recipe taught by the Aranara: a Rukkhashava mushroom variation, a lotus (Kalpalata/Barsam), and a purple flower (Sumeru rose/Yajna grass). It’s a sacramental beverage.

Fun fact, the taxonomic name for the Reishi mushroom is ganoderma, and there are mushroom-like aquatic ascension materials called Sea Ganoderma in genshin. Their description says “In the folktales told in a certain land, these mouthless, noseless creatures are the transformed souls of children who died young.” They are used by Yae Miko (guards a Irminsul tree) and Kazuha (ganoderma really like mapple trees)

Xamaran, the giant mushroom in the Chasm, is often taken as the irminsul tree of the area (it even looks like a dragon tree), or instead as a mushroom growing in the body of the main Irminsul (like how mushrooms grow on trees). The name sounds like Shahmaran, a mythological being from Persian mythology who was half human half snake, and the name can be broken into "queen/king of serpents" - and serpents in genshin are somewhat interchangeable with dragons. There are tales both about the queen and the king. What matters is that in the Queen's tale, her flesh leads to recovery, her broth leads to knowledge, and her extract leads to death.

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Illusions, fake identities and lots of pretending

Voicelines from Archons say “About Venti” instead of “About Barbatos”, although all other gods are refered to with their god name. There are exceptions in the patterns of speaking about the topic from the archons, for example Furina is an obvious exception, Nahida never met the other archons, etc... Still, when mentioned, he is never called Barbatos. Even Neuvilette calls him Anemo Archon.

Even in the Archon quest, in the same conversation where he tells us about allogenes and Gnosis after the confrontation with Signora, Paimon says that the “Tone-Deaf Bard is just one of the many Barbatos incarnations” - I wonder if the CN text says this as well...

He doesn't currently use Barbatos' Lyre. Now, that might just be because he is pretending to not be Barbatos, and consequently he couldn't just demand it from the church, as we have seen to an extent in the Prologue. But there might be more to it, since he could have just opted to take that lyre with him or hid it somewhere else before going into slumber, instead of delivering it to the church. So what if that is not his lyre (it could be from the Nameless Bard, or from Istaroth), or what if it is the Lyre of Barbatos but he is just a fragment of Barbatos?

Celestia also doesn't seem to like him (Voiceline Mora about Venti - IV). Could it be because he refuses to take the throne? Because it just doesn't approve of his behavior and attitude? Or maybe because he isn't fully Barbatos? And yet, his bigger statue in Mondstadt has incribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia"...

He has shown his illusion abilities by faking the repair of the Lyre right before Signora showed up to steal his Gnosis, which makes some people believe that the Gnosis he gave away was fake.

Winking. He is always winking. In most official arts, and very often in-game too. Why would that be relevant? Because eyes, especially having eyes covered/closed, are very significant in genshin and hint at the ability to perceive the truth instead of the illusion/dream created by the Irminsul. Check my future post about patterns in the Hoyoverse for more info - I will try to list every example there, from Kaeya’s legacy, to fictional Fischl, God-Kings and their artifact sets, and ofc Irmin. He might not be immune to the Irminsul changes, but he certainly tries to combat that with stories.

Adressing the elephant in the room, people don’t seem to notice that he looks exactly like the giant statue. Or maybe they do, and they attribute it a genius marketing idea to grow popularity as a bard >.< But considering how Ineffa matched Columbina’s appearance to her statues at a first glance, if she ever goes to Mondstadt, i very much expected her to clock Venti just as easily - otherwise, there is something weird going on. You knows, besides the fact that the statue has at the bottom a “Gateway to Celestia” inscription.

(both mods are made by me/Anilyan, [here] and [here])

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Confused timelines, slumbers and dreams

I don’t think there are many instances of this, but there are a few examples that fans point of Venti possibly confusing timelines - either because the wind is free from the confines of time, or because of Venti’s connections with Istaroth and even poential prophetic abilities.

One is during Mondstadt’s AQ, when he tells the Traveler to meet at the “usual place” when we have never met him there before.

Another is a voiceover hidden in a menu, where he greets the Traveler with “Ah, Traveler, we meet again! What? You don't remember me? Ahaha, well, allow me to join you on your quest once again.”

He had to dissapear and go into slumber multiple times, usually after seemingly using a lot of his power: some time after establishing new Mondstadt and making sure that the humans got it (we see him waking up in the manga and realizing how corrupt the aristocracy had become), some time after helping Vennessa win and form the Knights and still taking some time to raise Dvalin, and after the fight against Durin. People theorize it’s only after moments where he spends lots of power, but since we don’t know the exact circumstances that made him go to slumber for the first 2 examples, it’s hard to say.

That theory gains grounds when we recently - in 2025 summer event - got a glimpse of the kinds of powers that he used before one of his slumbers. During the Cataclysm, to prevent the corruption of the Mare Jivari to spread towards other places, Venti used the authority over time that Istaroth shared with him to cut that location off the timeline.

This was around the same time when he also dealt with Durin, and it’s possible that he was in Khaenri’ah around that period too, since it’s implied most gods were called there - and even that he might have been the one who helped Makoto enact her plan before dying, since a certain cutscene in Ei’s 2nd story quest shows Cecilias, and we know now after the reveal of the Shades that Istaroth herself doesn’t have many clear associations with those flowers. So he somehow managed to be in all of those places around the same time, and probably used too much of his power, falling into slumber after that.

The Natlan summer event also got him to confirm that using some of his powers can drain him a lot. After collaborating with Mavuika to free the souls that got detained in the Mare Jivari, he said: “Well, it really took it out of me for a few days... In fact, I still feel pretty dead on my feet even now.”

There was an old reddit post by u/ahellbornlady (thank you to Jolita_Bonita on ao3 for finding it for me) that even theorized that Venti met the Traveler not in some kind of past life/time that was reset - I have seen people theorize that too but it's not really what I believe - but rather in dreams, since they were both in slumber after the Cataclysm. It's even possible that the poem that Venti shares during the first Windblume event - that changes in CN depending on the gender of the Traveler, proving it's about them - was about how they met. It has some interesting verses like "Who was it that stroked your bloodied, determined visage. By stream flowing small, by boulder standing large." and "Who was it that embraced your weary yet noble soul, in dreams deep, in skies soaring." I have an upcoming post about dreams too.

He also wakes up in this location in the manga, that strongly resembles a location shown in the trailer of the anime, so people guess it will be important. The location even shares one of the symbols of Venti and Istaroth (edited pics from https://x.com/Yivvee/status/1899111907627516062/photo/2). This also looks a lot like a portal, which is interesting considering that the base of his big statue has inscribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia" (thak you to 4clover31 on tumblr for the reminder)

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Dissapearances for long periods, Death and Leylines

In the Orphic tradition, Phanes is said to be a dying and resurrecting god, killed by the Titans who devoured his flesh but rescued by Athena and resurrected by Zheus. Maybe, to which extent, we could correlate the Titans (Athena and Zeus) to the dragons, Istaroth and the Primordial One.

Venti dissapears for long periods of time, and dying and resurrecting could be a way to explain that. Especially after the recent Natlan summer event, some people have theorized that Venti is “running out of time”, potentially because using powers from Shades comes at a cost even to other Archons, like Mavuika stated when she had to use Ronova's powers to thwart Gosoythoth's abyssal invasion.

Dionysus, the god of wine - who, like I mentioned before, is often equated with Phanes - dies at the hands of the Titans, and that has been considered the central myth of Orphism. I elaborate more about Orphism, and specifically Orpheus, in a following section.

Dionysus was the patron god of the Orphics, who they connected to death and immortality, and he symbolized the one who guides the process of reincarnation. That strongly resembles Venti’s ability to help souls pass… to wtv is the place of the souls, Irminsul or something, like he did in his story quest or during Natlan’s summer event, and that is likely what allows souls to reincarnate in Teyvat as well.

Unsure how that works exactly, but Istaroth and Venti definitely have some strange connections with leylines. And since this post is about Venti and not his mom, let’s also not forget that he shines in the leyline color multiple times too. In fact, his Archon outfit has more blue than exactly green, and same for his wisp form, although that might be an extension of angels being seelies.

It’s fairly known that the artifact categories correspond to the Primordial One and the 4 Shades, and one of them is the Plume of Death. It’s usually associated with Ronova, the Shade of Death, but even so Venti is heavily associated with feathers. Even in Natlan, those who carry an ancient name have it engraved in a feather-shaped obsidian toten, in turn having connections to the Night Kingdom.

Venti is mostly associated with Cecilias, but he also has some light connections with dandelions - more specifically, Venti is the only anemo character that dandelions are drawn towards after being blown, and the parts that fly are basically seeds of dead flowers. That ties in well with their quote about “seeds of stories” (in other words, the memories of people), and their connections with leylines and souls of people who passed on. In Teyvat, souls are often refered to as flowers in metaphors (I will expand on that in a future post about symbols in the game).

Venti also has a few connections with Windwheel Asters, basically stars (and Aster is also the beginning of Astaroth, one of the inspirations behind Istaroth). And stars and constellations are in turn heavily connected to the fates of people in Teyvat.

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Time loops and creator gods:

Bear with me, we are taking a trip into the Hoyoverse:

I’ve seen some people interpret that Phainon from HSR is a parallel to Phanes, not just because of the obvious name similarity but because of his major role in the story… that also involves resetting time, cycles, and similar concepts.

In fact, many people theorize that Amphoreus shares a kind of existence similar to Teyvat, from the implications that it’s a computer simulation, to the disconnection from the rest of the universe and the fake sky, the corruptive abyss-like powers, how the trailer for the tribbies showed her in basically the login screen of genshin… and more.

Some people theorize that Phainon is the Golden Scapegoat, a symbolic representation of a figure who bears consequences, possibly for failures or mistakes in past cycles.

Some people also compare Phainon with Pangu, a figure who, like Phanes, emerged from a cosmic egg to create the universe by separating the chaotic forces of Yin and Yang. Venti mentions that figure in the manga, saying that in other worlds, Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and the seas. That lines up well with Chinese mythology, that says that his breath turned into the wind, his blood into rivers, his left eye the sun, and his right eye the moon. He is therefore considered a creator god.

In other words, it seems that each world in the hoyoverse has its own creator god (with Venti mentioning others and Phainon and Phanes as potential candidates), and those figures often tend:

To be born from a cosmic egg

To get caught up in cycles of birth and destruction, that can be considered time loops

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Similarities to Orpheus the Bard

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a legendary bard, and the founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries.

He perfected the lyre invented by Hermes. Venti also probably perfected the lyre of the bard, and (noticed by 4clover31 on tumblr) in the Chasm there is a letter that mentions his lyre: "Not if my destructive self were made to be the lyre of Barbatos".

The suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans has been considered the central myth of Orphism - and I already mentioned before how Dionysus and wine and all of that have their own connections to Venti. There is also the fact that Phanes belongs to the Orphic myth as well, although as a different entity: Dionysus at most, but not Orpheus.

Besides the bard and lyre aspects that clearly match Venti, the fact that Orpheus was a prophet is also very fitting since, as I mentioned before, Venti knows the songs of the past/present/future, and is probably a prophet given how Seelies/Angels always are.

So I propose that Orpheus corresponds to Venti’s bard identity, that he takes to avoid assuming the role of an Archon, while Dionysus/Phanes correspond to his Barbatos aspect.

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Compiling potential time-related feats (some attributed to Istaroth)

(Most of these things were mentioned before, but I wanted to make them clearer. These are events involving Time-stuff, that necessarily involved the use of Istaroth’s powers, but not necessarily her presence)

The Natlan Summer Event in 2025 revealed that Venti has Time powers bestowed by Istaroth, and that opened up some possibilities regarding his involvement in past events. Namely, that many things previously attributed to Istaroth might have been done by Venti instead, especially after the revelations that 1) she is fairly indifferent and aloof, so why would she bother getting involved and helping? 2) The reveal of her appearance doesn’t include a single Cecilia.

So, people are now looking at things we previously attributed to Istaroth, and wondering if Venti was the one involved instead:

Cutting the Mare Jivari off the timeline: In the aforementioned summer event, he straight out tells us that: “Five hundred years ago, to prevent the corruption of the Mare Jivari from spreading beyond Tenochtzitoc, I blew it off the timeline, turning it into the "Windless Land.” This resulted in 1) some souls getting trapped there, an issue he only managed to fix now with the help of Mavuika who opened a rift to that region 2) People reaching the physical location and getting wrapped in time shenanigans that seemed to contradict the timeline of the area, until we got a proper explanation, like what happened to the Wanderer Troupe. There seems to be more than one version of the Mare Jivari - at least 2 were confirmed.

Helping Makoto with the seed that Ei plants: The cutscene in Ei’s 2nd story quest shows a Cecilia, for starters, which in the past made us all think about Istaroth, especially after the game translates “higher powers” as “Istaroth”. And her powers were definitely involved! Just, maybe wielded by Venti. In other words, maybe Venti was the one who allowed Makoto to enact her plan, letting Ei plant a seed in the future/present that sprouted in the past (in other words, a Loom of Fate), turning into the tree that protect Inazuma during the Cataclysm. With how obcessed Venti is with seeds of stories, preserving the past and the truth, and considering how he probably was in Khaenri’ah at some point during the Cataclysm and consequently was with Makoto… that is at least possible.

Helping the people of Enkanomiya: When Enkanomiya fell into the sea, the people were despairing, endangered by the vishaps and the darkness, until Aberaku was bestwed the wisdom to create the Helios. The first time we learned about the name of Istaroth, the PO, and much more, was in Enkanomiya. That, coupled with other hints, gave the impression that the Goddess of Time was the one who helped. However, now that Venti claimed that she is very indifferent, and after we’ve seen her be so aloof (although that might just be a pretense), it wouldn’t make sense for her to want to help. That made some people wonder if Venti was the one who helped instead. The OST Realm of Tokoyo also resembles the ost Hope or Nostalgia, and we know Venti is a God of Hope.

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Compiling Abyss Connections

Look, most of this section are things mentioned in others, I just wanted to point out that there is a not insignificant number of connections between Venti and the Abyss... And I also didn't know where else to include the Inverted Statue.

The Abyss Order uses an inverted Venti Statue, for their ritual in one of the Archon Quests. Could just be coincidence, but with the ritual in Liyue, it would make more sense to use a statue of Morax

One of the potential origins of mythology Phanes says he emerged from the Abyss

Venti gives us one half of the apple in that birthday art I mentioned - the other half possibly represents the Abyss

He is always drinking wine, and wine is called Abyss by the wolves

He can understand the music of Abyss creatures, even using it to dispel barriers in the prologue

The Abyss Flower and Divine Key in Honkai 3rd is a Cecilia

It's possible that he hasn't even been to Celestia, or at least seems to indicate he isn't wanted there, although that voiceline can be interpreted in many ways

I will just mention how in the recent 5.6 stream art he is mostly in the shadow - tenue connection, but still

You know the "purifying abilities" of the Traveler, that have the great side effects of healing the beings they target, that are now understood as the Traveler just absorbing the abyss taint for themselves? Venti has multiple times displayed similar purifying abilities, like when lending powers to the Traveler to fight Dvalin (again, like Cocouik), healing Xiao with his music, and maybe more that I forgot.

Check the proof/pictures for these things in sections above

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His real age, birth and timeline

Look, I want to start by addressing the elephants in the room:

Venti and Istaroth have the same voices and VAs, in all languages. So I do not believe that, when he says in the Natlan summer event, that he had a chance encounter with Istaroth, he was telling the full story. Maybe the meeting in that moment was by chance, sure, but that doesn’t undermine previous connections between them.

Thanks to Venti’s powers over time, it’s really difficult to state that “Venti did this during X period”, because… maybe he can go back in time, maybe time is not linear since Mavuika basically confirmed that time is a cube and that changing something at one point taints the rest of the truth, etc. So even if Venti interfered in some ancient event, that might already be a rewrite and not how that event originally went. I will just state facts instead of addressing that kind of thing.

Now let me attempt this:

There are strong implications that Barbatos - with that title - existed even before he became a wind wisp, or that he went back into the past to other timelines. For example, in the Chasm, we can find a letter that mentions “Barbatos” [check the translation here], dating from the time of the “Nameless Ruins” city that shares architecure with Enkanomiya (and according to Dainsleif, some similarities with Khaenri’ah too, but this city is older). We know that Enkanomiya fell as a result of the war between the Primordial One and the Second Who Came, so it’s from the time of Hyperborea. Assumming that the Nameless Ruins are just as old, that means Barbatos has existed at least since before the fall of Hyperborea.

As a Wind Wisp, Venti heard the cries of the Gunnhildr Clan who managed to flee Decarabian’s city, and were suffering under the blizzards. He gained more powers thanks to their faith, managing to help them, and later joining the rebellion against Decarabian along the Nameless Bard, the red-haired warrior, Amos, and others. I am assuming this happened before the next point, because it’s implied this is the first time he got significant powers and a wish to change the world.

As a Wind Wisp, he got powers from Istaroth, and the Thousand Winds Temple already existed: “Back then, as an Anemo spirit, I had a chance encounter with "Time" at the Thousand Winds Temple. Hearing my wishes, she entrusted me with fragments of her power and authority.”

Around ~2600 years ago, with the fall of Decarabian’s Mondstadt and his divine throne, Venti ascended to become the Anemo Archon Barbatos. Thanks to Boreas abdicating from his influence, and becoming a ghost upon realizing how his powers were harming humans, Venti took the chance to terraform the land to make it hospitable for humanity. Musk Reef (formerly Pilos Peak)[19] and the Golden Apple Archipelago[20] are examples of mountains that he terraformed. He used the four winds - at the time, literally 4 of the Thousand Winds of Time - to achieve some of those feats, using the Skyward Atlas.

Mondstadt established a new cityand customs: Venti lived amongst the Mondstadters for a while, and helped them establish a new home and traditions, like the Ludi Harpastum,Weinlesefest, and the Windblume Festival. He also helped the gliders - designed by Leonard from Musk Reef - work, and the powers of Barbatos are still required. The Lawrence Clan led the building of the giant Barbatos’ statue, and the clans swore to forever protect freedom.

After the Archon War ended, around 2000 years ago, Venti wandered and interacted with other Archons, in particular Rex Lapis and the Adepti. He contributed by establishing meetings between the Archons, and helped even people who weren’t from Mondstadt, like relieving Xiao from his karmic debt at certain points. He tried to use music to heal the world’s wounds, and raised a baby Dvalin.

It’s unclear for how long Venti lived amongst the people, or how early did he felt the need to fall into slumber after using those powers. It’s also unclear how many slumbers he was in between this period and the time he woke up during the aristocratic period - but it has been long enough for him to be surprised, meaning that, in the previous time he left Mondstadt, there were no indications of Mondstadt abndoning freedom.

Venessas tribe flees the Mare Jivari: She belonged to the Anemo Clan of Natlan, and at some point, the whole tribe was exhiled (for unknown reasons, although theories point that maybe they were followers of the Tyrant Och-kan, who lived in his Kingdom). Some found a home in the barren land of Tenochtzitoc (currently a summer resort), and became great warriorr; while Vennessa’s side of the Clan went towards the true land of Anemo, Mondstadt, becoming known as Muratans, and losing some of their memories due to the leyline problems in Natlan, that always stopped people from leaving.

In the Aristocratic period, around 1600 years ago, the Lawrence Clan had taken too much power, distorted the values of Mondstadt, privatized or destroyed resources and information along with symbols of Barbatos, and sacrificed people to Ursa the Drake, possibly in exchange for more power. They enslaved Venessa’s clan upon arrival, and made her into a Gladiator. When Venti wakes up from slumber and realizes how wrong things are, he tests Venessa’s determination to fight for everyone, and teams with her to help her overthrow the Aristocracy.

Having learned his lessons about leaving people unchecked, Venti establishes the Knights of Favonius to protect Mondstadt and its ideals, led by Venessa. He also establishes the 4 Winds, this time actual beings instead of literal winds: The Dragon of the East (Dvalin), the Wolf of the North (Boreas/Andrius), the Falcon of the West (implied to be Venessa, even after her death), and the Lion of the South/Lionfang Knight/Dandelion Knight (always the leader of the Knights, meaning that for a time Venessa held two of these titles). Until the Cataclysm, those figures were worshiped and had temples built for them.

During the Cataclysm of Khaenri’ah, 500 ago, Barbatos was involved in dealing with several crisis across Teyvat: He threw the Mare Jivari off the timeline, he fought the dragon Durin alongside Dvalin to defend Mondstadt, and he potentially helped Makoto realize her plan to protect Inazuma before she died.

At some point in the past (there is no clue at all of the period of this), the Hexenzirkel witches once challenged the authority of Barbatos, but he solved things peacefully, and now the wishes have their own reserved places in Mondstadt, and are frequent visitors and allies.

Recently, at the behest of Grand Master Varka, Barbatos set up the Tripartite Conference between himself, the Hexenzirkel and the joint forces of the Knights and Church of Favonius. The full details of the agreement are unknown, but we know that the witches have agreed to help Mondstadt in times of need.

It’s implied that he fell into slumber somewhere between helping Varka and the events of the manga, and woke up shortly before the beginning of the game, because:

He isn’t at all involved in the events of the manga, that happened around 1 year before the Traveler arrives in Mondstadt

Varka had to be the Grandmaster to make a deal with the witches, but we know he left Mondstadt for Nod-Krai before the start of the manga, since Jean was already acting as a Grandmaster

Venti was alarmed at the realization that Dvalin had gotten corrupted, and was trying to fix the issue (this in turn implies that Dvalin only woke up in that state after the events in the manga).

Venti was fairly unknown by certain figures like Diluc at the start of the game, perhaps because Diluc was too young when Venti fell into slumber in the last time, and yet Venti had already gotten popular as a bard when the game started - either because some people recognized him from his appearance years ago (around Varka’s time), or he immediately introduced himself as a bard, growing his popularity quickly.

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Mondstadt

Mondstadt, the fairytale land with connections to every part of Teyvat (the Prologue was literally used to introduce everything, and every character there is representative of future content). I couldn’t leave out the Nation that Venti is an Archon of.

First, let’s talk about the period before Venti’s Archonhood, while he was just a wisp caught up in Old Mondstadt:

Decarabian was a participant of the Archon War - but what exactly motivated him?

The Archon War: It took place right after the fall of the Unified Civilization when Archons were the solution necessary to help stabilize Teyvat after the disasters brought by the War of Vengeance. Decarabian’s opponent was Andrius/Boreas, who likely came from Snezhnaya, and brought snow and blizzards to all of Teyvat. Mondstadt was completely covered in snow.

The safety of humans: To keep the humans in Mondstadt safe, especially from the cold, Decarabian enclosed them in a wind barrier (some, like the Lawrence Clan and possibly the Gunnhildr Clan not yet named that at the time, managed to leave the city). He micromanaged the city, forbid rebellious songs (although the CN version of Venti’s retelling implies that he only accepted hymns), and his winds were so strong that they forced people to bend their backs. He mistook that as respect, unaware that the humans resented him, which later led to their revolution to take down their god.

All for a Dream: Becoming a Tyrant in an attempt to protect humanity is not the only similarity he shares with other God-Kings. He was trying to attain a Dream, possibly another hivemind project - according to Fragment of Decarabian’s Epic, "If it were not for the song of freedom that shattered the city in an instant, Decarabian's dream would have gone on forever.” He might even have something akin to Deshret’s mausuleum or projects from other god-kings under his tower, the only location in the whole game that, if we try to access it, makes Paimon say something different than the usual: “Watch out! Don't go near there!”. In the cutscene of his death, he looks like a Sun when exploding, further connecting him to sun-kings or red-kings. Something something eternal dream and hiveminds.

Besides his goals, his appearance might also connect him to God-Kings.

We never see his appearance - possibly because Hoyo intends to show he was a dragon or had draconic features, which would make sense given that his tower has arches big enough for a dragon, a floating platform above, and was chosen by Dvalin as a nest. More likely than not, he even had the Authority of Anemo and was a Dragon Sovereign - not just because he was the God of Storms, but because he was associated with a divine throne that was destroyed during the rebellion. That has been officially confirmed now in this post (check pics below), but that was actually never hidden. The og ENG translations were simply bad, and replaced throne with crown for the purpose of rhyming, but you can see that this fan translation by dkniade pointed that it said throne in CN, along with mentions to a god’s seat.

ENG translations also still call Decarabian of Anemo Archon, which is simply incorrect because the Archon War wasn’t over yet, but maybe that was because they mistook it as Anemo Sovereign?

Amos was also far more important than people realize:

It’s unclear how Decarabian met Amos - maybe under his tower, closer to Leyline stuff? - but she was almost certainly a Seelie.

Amos became Decarabian’s lover who later joined the rebellion against him.

Her appearance, white white hair and blue clothes, already gives some slight seelie and moon themes.

She was the only member of the rebellion with a name (Either because the name of other members was forgotten to history, or maybe something more significant, like them rejecting their names and the roles they represented, or maybe names in Old Mondstadt were just the things people did, like being a Bard. I’m not counting last names, since we have those).

She had prophetic dreams, as you can see in her quotes in Amos’ Bow, and the biblical figure of Amos was a prophet - and Seelies were prophets too.

Seelies also often sided and protected humanity, which is what she did by joining the rebellion. Players often assume that she was human because of the dreams she had for humanity, but nothing actually states that.

Last but not least, she might have been the one who killed Decarabian (again implied in her bow), and it probably takes a non-human powerful being to do so.

She looks exactly like Istaroth, and I don’t think that is a coincidence in the slightest, especially when it’s implied across the game how Istaroth had several fragments of hers across civilizations. But I will expand on that in my Istaroth’s theory.

What about the other characters involved?

Like I said before, the others had no names, only last names at most. Possible exlanations: 1) the name of other members was forgotten to history 2) they rejected their names and the roles they represented (since we know how names are tied to a person's fate in Teyvat) 3) maybe names in Old Mondstadt were just the things people did, like being a Bard 4) names were possibly hidden to hide their identities from the Irminsul

The rebels came up with the Windblume tradition, although it had a different meaning back then

Nameless Bard: We don’t know much about the Nameless Bard… but he was the rebel who led the rebellion, and whose form Venti took after once he died, due to being a dear friend of Venti. He had a Cecilia pinned to his chest, which is relevant. His lyre was different from the typically large lyres of the time, as mentioned in the description of the teapot lyre. I can’t help but wonder if he is a reincarnation of other rebels from history: The young man (probably an Alberich, but that’s another theory) from the period of the Unified Civilization, that was possessed by the Traveler From Afar and went to the Ancient Seelie to free her. It’s possible that he later reincarnated into story Ajax (the one who ended in Hyperborea) drawn by vague memories of the seelie he once loved. My other guesses, besides the Nameless Bard, are the Crimson-Eyed Youth who rebelled against Och-kan. I am undecided if currently he is represented by Alice or Childe, to be honest - in part because Idk to which extenct we should separate the identities of the female Traveler from Afar and the male figures she possesses.

Red-haired warrior: He was a traveler who wasn't from Mondstadt (no idea how he managed to enter), and he was with the bard when he died in the cutscene. He is potentially an antecedent of the Ragnvindr family, but it's not certain, since he left Mondstadt after the death of his friend.

Gunnhildr: The Gunnhildr clan wasn't called that at the time - it changed name in her honor after she was a hero in the rebellion. But before all of that, she and her clan managed to leave the city and, when suffering in the cold outside, she prayed, somehow manifesting or attracting Venti. It's unclear when did she return to the city or how, but we see her in the final battle in the TCG card.

There are mentions of figures from other clans that were involved, like Lawrence members and the Imulaukr Clan.

Andrius: After Decarabian was taken down, Andrius realized he wasn’t fit to rule humans and became a ghost, the rebellion leader was dead, so was Amos, and the red-haired warrior felt hurt and left. So the Archon position went to Venti, who took the form of his friend and terraformed Mondstadt, but didn’t take the Divine Throne. That might be the actual reason why he is the “weakest of the archons” if that really is true. He also tried to not exert authority over humans.

Official translation vs Literal fan translation vs Recent official post

Alright, and what about present Mondstadt?

Aristocracy period: Venti ruled Mondstadt alongside Istaroth for a while, with the Temple of the Thousand Winds dedicated to the worship of both. It’s unclear when Istaroth was forgotten by time, and why Venti had to get into slumber, but he was gone for a long period and, when he woke up, the Aristocracy of Mondstadt (especially the Lawrence Clan) had become arrogant, betrayed its principles, and abused their power to crush the freedom of people. The temple was converted into a fighting Arena, much was destroyed (including the original library), and Natlan’s refuggees (Vennessa’s tribe) was turned into slaves and gladiators. Venti helped fix that and, after realizing that full freedom could backfire, established the Knights of Favonius and the Four Winds, with Venessa as part of both groups.

Dvalin: It is unclear when exactly Dvalin and Barbatos met, but the poet in Breeze Amidst the Forest (implied to be Venti himself) says it occurred in "ancient times, when the gods walked among us in their prime." This puts their meeting somewhere between Barbatos' ascension 2600 years ago, and his departure from Mondstadt between 2000 and 1000 years ago. Venti helped people realize that the dragon didn’t pose any danger, and raised Dvalin, teaching him to speak the human tongue. It’s very possible that Dvalin is a reincarnated Anemo Dragon Sovereign, and that Venti entrusted the Anemo Authority to him. 500 ago, during the cataclysm, Venti and Dvalin fought against Durin’s attack, Venti had to go into slumber and Dvalin got poisoned. Mondstadt’s Prologue was all about about helping save Dvalin from Abyssal corruption and show to the people of the present that he is still a good dragon.

Mondstadt and witches: The witches deserve their own post, but it’s really interesting how they have such strong ties to Mondstadt, with two witches even taking residence there temporarily (Rhinedottir somewhat, and Alice). The second Windblume Event took us to the floating island where the witches used to reunite over tea, and for the first time told us about the members of the Hezenxirkel. It also told us of how they at some point challenged the Anemo Archon, for unknown reasons, but he befriended them instead. Interesting detail: In the cutscene about the witches, there is a moment that display’s Istaroth’s star, the same that is the symbol of Khaenri’ah - I have a post about Istaroth and that symbol almost ready too, so I won’t elaborate here, so points for another connection between witches-khaenri’ah-istaroth-venti. The Imaginarium Theater, a domain from the witches outside of space and time, also has a portal in Mondstadt. Oh, and the summer events are always connected to Mondstadt AND the witches.

Mondstadt and Wine: I already have a whole section about that, but it’s definitely no coincidence. It connects to witches, it connects to the Abyss, it connects to seelies (Angel’s Share), it connects to so many things… please go read my section if you haven’t.

Abyss: The portal is located in Musk Reef - one of the areas terraformed by Venti after he ascended, that was previously he tip of the tallest snowy mountain, known as Pilos Peak. Currently, the island looks suspiciously like multiple moons overlapping (that symbol that everyone went crazy over after the recent web event, despite being present in the game for a while). Its structure is divided into the "Abyss Corridor," which connects worlds (Teyvat was disconnected from other worlds, or at least that’s what the Legend of the Shattered Halberd book implies), and the "Abyssal Moon Spire," which leads to the unknown (possibly the same spire created by the Seelie Ancestor). In each level, we collect stars.

Flowers: Some of the flowers prominent or exclusive to Mondstadt have very interesting meanings. I already went over Cecilias, so go read that section because it’s huge; Dandelions represent wishes that are carried over to the Anemo Archon when blown, but their seeds can also represent the souls and stories of people, which in a way is almost intercheangeable given how the wishing screen kinda grants us the souls of campanions; Windwheel Asters represent stars, also very relevant for Genshin given the constellation system; Lampgrass only glow at night, so they are part of the series of flowers that change with the moon; Roses don’t seemingly exist in Mondstadt, yet two characters (Lisa and Noelle, and Rosaria has thorns in her attacks) wear them, and associated with secrets in Monds (see Noelle Hangout), and are in the cover of a big chunk of fairytales.

Gateway to Celestia (thanks to 4clover31 on tumblr for the reminder): The base of Venti's massive statue in Mondstadt has inscribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia" - people have translated and figured that out from the very beginning of the game.

Eyes of Storm, Istaroth and the Nameless Island: Idk where I'm going with this but it's interesting how, although Eyes of Storm are primarily featured in Mondstadt, the Statue of the Omnipresent God in Inazuma that many people theorize to be a depiction of Istaroth has a necklace shaped like an Eye of Storm. See this image edited by CatWithBlueHat. The quests where we first learned about Istaroth/The Thousand Winds of Time also included Eyes of Storm. (thank you to 4clover31 on tumblr for reminding me of this)

Windmills with 6 wings: This is barely important, but it's also mentioned in Kaeya's quest so I can't just ignore xD Straight out pointed explicitly. Windmills irl tend to have 4 wings (not always), but in Mondstadt, they have 6, matching the number of wings that special beings in Teyvat typically have.

The important citizens of Mondstadt: There’s just so many that I have to break this in parts, but I really don’t like it when people dismiss Mondstadt, because everything there was a well-done setup to future content:

Kaeya is one of the few Khaenri’ah survivors, and from the Alberich dynasty no less, who not only took control of Khaenri’ah after King Irmin felt “indisposed”, but also was important far before that, being possibly one of the oldest lineages of Khaenri’ah;

Diluc is strongly connected with the Fatui, that he opposes, and with a secret organization that is probably the Hexenzirkel, judging by the cups in his mansion, Angel’s share and several other hints;

Jean is a descendant of Old Mondstadt, more specifically, of the original Gunnhildr who through her wishes attracted wisp Venti, and she is alsoboth the Dandelion Knight and the Lionfang Knight;

Rosaria has lived with bandits since childhood, was found by Varka and put in the church, and she isn’t a very faithful nun. More importantly, some people suspect she is originally from Nod-Krai - she is canonically from a mountain village and the bandit gang has endured freezing cold.

Albedo is an homunculus created by Rhinedottir, a witch, through Khemia, that he also practices, and he is technically Durin’s brother and adopted into Klee’s family;

Klee is Alice’s daughter and might very well become a super strong witch herself, and she also inherited Alice’s book;

Mona is Barbeloth’s apprentice and therefore can read fates, and another powerful witch;

Lisa is another powerful witch who was invited to be part of the Hexenzirkel (she declined), who also knows many truths and secrets;

Eula is a member of the aristocracy who goes against her family, and was taught by Amber’s grandfather;

Amber has a grandfather from Liyue, who dissapeared;

Fischl/Amy cosplays book Princess Fischl, who likely represents Istaroth and is from books written by the suspicious Mr.Nine, the author whose codename is A., so probably by Alice;

Razor has ties to Sumeru family, and his story introduced us to Boreas/Andrius;

Bennet was likely found in the Mare Jivari, a destroyed region in Natlan where wind doesn’t blow, and his bad luck is probably an extension of the curse that people from Natlan had before the Archon Quest, that prevented them from leaving the region because of Leyline issues;

Diona was one of the first characters we saw that displayed atavism (regressive animal traits), along with her whole family, and she also introduced us to the concept of fairy oceanids, and their connections with wine.

Sucrose is another character with atavism, likely a fox, and foxes are important on their own even with fairytale connections like the tale of the dandelion sea. She is another alchemist.

Noelle is very unsuspicious, but it’s interesting that she wears roses, and the fact that those flowers mean secrets in Mondstadt was even highlighted in her Hangout quest;

Mika and Barbara don’t seem to have anything weird going on.

Varka is out in an expedition with most of the Knights of Mondstadt, and will definitely be an important character too;

Dahlia got his own post: between dragon connections, and the potential to be the nameless bard reincarnated (or even have parts of Decarabian!)... yeah. [Here]

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That's it. My goal was to write the most extensive and in-dept post about Venti possible - you guys tell me if I succeeded and if this makes sense xD

I think I did, because reddit told me this

I have more lore posts on the way, so follow me for those if you want ^^ Meanwhile, I also made an aggregator post on reddit and posted this on AO3 (yes, in the middle of my venti-centric fic xD).

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Log of changes and when they happen - so you can catch up to what you lost after each of my updates:

[24/04/2025]:

I added some notes thanks to the reminders of several people:

a new section called "Compiling abyss connections" (go read that one above)

2 mondstadt bullet points

2 paragraphs to the illusions section

a paragraph and a new note in the timelines and slumbers section

a new paragraph in the apple section

In case you already read the post before, you can just check the new parts in the following pics (first full pic and highlighted parts in the others)

[11/07/2025]

No new sections, but the previous section about the Gnosis was repurposed to have more stuff. Here is a list of what I changed:

The section about Gnosis is now called Symbols, and talks about the Queen Gnosis, Mondstadt's vision case, and the UI icon for events with the compass/morning star/rosa dei venti

An analysis of the shape of the vision was added to the relevant parts discussing Venti's appearance

In the section about Mondstadt, I added a minor note about how windmills have 6 wings

In the section about apples, I reinforce why golden apples are important by showing how we got one in the Amphoreus arc from HSR

Dahlia is not even described in this post anymore, I instead link to a post entirely about him since I've been able to study him more since his release xD

Here are the changes in screenshots: 

[09/10/2025]

I added a section about titles, and reordered the themes to start with the simpler stuff (appearance, titles and symbols), as long as reordering more stuff so that closely related sections were next to each other

I added more about some visual characteristics

Added at the end of the section talking about his strength: “One thing that got confirmed in the 2025 summer event is that he has powers over time bestowed by Istaroth, in fact, a fragment of her authority, and that he used them to blow the Mare Jivari off the timeline. So it’s certain that he has lots of powers that he never shared, although they might come with caveats - like the sumbers I talk about in another section.”

I expanded on the significance of Cecilias, how what they represent in HI3 tie so well with the recently revealed title of “sentinel who holds the key”, and how their appearance on certain cutscenes might indicate that the one connected with that event was venti instead of Istaroth

Added 2 paragraphs in the section about Slumbers, showing how the Natlan summer event confirmed that using his powers can exhaust him.

On multiple sections, I included a mention of how his special dish connects cecilias with twists of fate, and possibly related to the exploration of sacramental food. More specifically, I say: “In his official dish, it’s said that the only difference with the traditional version is the inclusion of the Cecilia, and yet it adds: “But if you taste it carefully, you can taste the flavor of a wind that brings hope and tiny twists of fate.“”

I added some points in the sections about death and leylines, and venti potentially running out of time

Added the sections “Time loops and creator gods”, “compiling potential time-related feats”, and “His real age, birth and timeline” (not adding screenshot for those, just scroll up to read)

[anilyan]

I updated the post once again ^^

Always remember to always check the original/source version, because tumblr doesn't show the updates in the reblogs.

You can check what was added at the end of the post.

[anilyan]

Hi, is there still a way to enter ur modding discord server? if not, no worries!

Sorry, I actually closed the server recently...

But i shared my 3D bases and all of my tutorials on gamebanana, here and here

You can also join the main modding server instead, AGMG, but you will have to verify to see all channels https://discord.gg/agmg

[anilyan]

Hey Anilyan!!

You've been such a HUGE inspiration to me and I saw you responding to the tweet about Venti's future "crowned" moment 😭

I'm actually so excited for this and I wonder if you feel the same because I've already read through your entire blog post about Venti and Phanes, but I also picked up on some really minor proofs in comparison

I did make a comment on it on reddit, and I of course credited you as well:

https://www.reddit.com/r/venti/s/n225ZVTMiW

I'd also like to mention that the tweet said that they were discussing whether or not Venti's "crowned" form should be an SP. They weren't talking about whether or not Venti will be crowned

I mentioned this because some people were under the assumption that Venti being crowned is still a probability- but, I don't think so

Oh I DEFINITELY am super excited (and feeling just a tiny bit overconfident about my theory haha)

I am actually working on updating my theory, should be posted today, and I have quite a lot to go over

The way i understood that leak, it still means he will get "crowned" lore/plot-wise, and in that point of the story he will gain a new form - that may or may not be a SP.

[anilyan]

It’s my birthday, so I’m taking the chance to spread my agenda! ^^

Do you remember what the scribe of Enkanomiya said? “The Primordial One may have been Phanes.” Wouldn’t that confusion be understandable if Phanes both was and wasn’t the Primordial One? Or rather, if was just one part of the Primordial One, aka his soul?

I will argue that Venti is Phanes, and also two things about Phanes (that are technically their own theory):

Phanes is the soul of the Primordial One, just like what Cocouik was to Ochkan

Phanes was created through the Chemical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Yes, I am coming back with a refined version of my old “Venti is Phanes” theory, after studying and organizing my thoughts and what I knew about the lore. The old post was pretty messy.

(I actually spent weeks preparing posts about other aspects of the lore, but meanwhile we got the moons web event that kinda ruined my time to shine, along with some leaked artifacts that basically confirmed much of what I was theorizing about, so I missed my opportunity and the things I was about to bring up won’t feel as special anymore. To feel a bit better, I decided to go back to my true agenda - Venti brainrot, that is. But I will still incorporate important lore parts that I studied into this post, and expand on them properly over time.)

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Section 1: What is Phanes? 2 theories:

First, let me remind you of what the book Before Sun and Moon says:

“The Primordial One may have been Phanes. It had wings and a crown, and was birthed from an egg, androgynous in nature. But for the world to be created, the egg's shell had to be broken. However, Phanes, the Primordial One, used the eggshell to separate the "universe" and the "microcosm of the world."”

The next theories about Phanes, that I will present next followed by connecting it with Venti, may be true at the same time:

» Theory 1: Phanes was born from a Chemical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Many ties between the PO and Istaroth are obvious, not just because she was very very likely a Shade, but also because she was probably the Moon-themed White Queen to the PO’s Sun-themed Red King, who joined in a Chemical Marriage. That produced the egg/pearl/wtv that birthed Phanes, necessary to the creation of the world.

Please notice that there is evidence that, at some point, Istaroth was the Ancient Seelie who married the Traveler from Afar, but that is not incompatible with the fact that she was bound to the PO first. In fact, I think that the fact that she was likely the Ancient Seelie is a crucial aspect, especially given the crown that she dropped, which in turn was probably the golden-ring artifact created by the Rhine Maidens / moons who confered power to the PO. I have posts about that on the way.

Let me explain. I will summarize what a chemical marriage is (I will eventually make a post fully dedicated to this concept, and to show in detail why all the pairs I mention from genshin fit this doomed narrative).

The chemical marriage / chemical wedding is a concept in alchemy that represents an union of opposites: male and female, sun and moon, gold and silver, sulphur and mercury, body and spirit, red King and white Queen. DON’T mistake this with actual marriages or ship stuff, btw.

It’s meant to produce a new and improved product, the Rebis (an androgynous being, sometimes called the Philosopher’s child), or according to some tales, the Philosopher's Stone. That stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver.

(I can’t help but recall that Venus/the morning star, aka Istaroth, in Chinese, is called Jīn-xīng (金星), the golden planet of the metal element - and Istaroth and her rhine maidens/moons/fates are likely responsible for the golden ring/crown mentioned in the drama Der Ring des Nibelungen.)

According to Jakob, the Seal of Chymical Marriage can be used to seal off the source of life, aka the Primordial Sea, which sounds similar to creating a world/pearl/philosopher’s stone/egg/dream bubble that floats in the sea of quanta or wtv is the logic used across Hoyoverse’s worlds. Basically, a necessary process to create the world, or perhaps reshape it and change it to be inhospitable for dragons yet hospitable for humans, essentially what the Primordial One did at the very beginning. In other words, the eggsehll was used to separate the sea, a sea of elements and souls and such that granted shapeshifting and abilities to the dragons, like a sort of hivemind that is incompatible with the individualism of humans. For more info on that, check the Men of Lithin book.

The Chemical Marriage is hinted at by Albedo, through the stages of the Magnum Opus in his Ascension - although in the game, the 2 last stages are swapped, with Rubedo coming before Citrinitas (perhaps to reinforce the goal to obtain gold) in the game.

That process also sometimes involves a dove. It’s in consideration to the 3 parts of a person, body (the king), soul (the seelie) and spirit (the dove), and in Christianity, the dove often represents the Holy Spirit. The marriage is sometimes blessed by a descending dove from starry heaven. The dove sometimes is the one that brings the ring. There are other trinities that can be associated with this.

Last but not least, here are all the pairs I could think of from Genshin that execute this, that I will elaborate in detail on a different post. They are made of a Seelie or prophetic being who shared forbidden knowledge with a King, who tried to save humanity by creating a hivemind, bringing tragedy: Traveler from Afar and Seelie (who may still be Istaroth), Decarabian and Amos, Zhongli and Guizhong, Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers, Liloupar and Ormazd, Remus and Sybilla, Ochkan and Ixlel… and potentially in the future either the Traveler with the Abyss Twin, or the Traveler with Paimon.

We can also compare Istaroth and PO to Chronus and Anake, two serpentine beings who created the egg that birthed the world. But according to some mythologies, what came from the egg was Phanes instead.

It’s technically more complicated than that, here is a list of alternate possibilities I found for his origins:

Phanes hatched from the egg of Chronos and Ananke

Phanes hatched from the cosmic/orphic egg placed in Aether (who was the personification of the bright upper sky and another son of Chronos)

Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge - check this video for more on that.

Sometimes Nyx is also involved - she is Phanes counterpart. In some tales, she is Phane’s wife, sometimes his daughter, and in others she creates an egg from which Phanes is born, so wtv. I don’t know who Nyx is (besides being likely The Night Mother from the book of the Six Pygmies), but it’s pretty clear that the Abyss half is under her responsibility in some way.

If you refer back to the quote from the book Before Sun and Moon…:

It doesn’t clarify if Phanes and the PO are the same entity or not, the scribe just decides to treat them as the same. I have my own explanation for it, in the next section precisely, but my answer would be “more or less”

It says that Phanes was birthed from an egg, but then proceeds to give a different purpose to the egg, or at least to the eggshell

Here is my interpretation: The PO and Istaroth created an egg/pearl with a chemical marriage, and Phanes was born from an egg. Once he broke the eggshell to be born, the eggshell was used (unclear if by the PO or Phanes) to change Teyvat, to create the world as it is now: a bubble separated from the rest of the universe by a fake sky, less hospitable for dragons, where Abyssal matter and the Primordial Sea stuff are separated from humans, etc. So technically, yeah, Phanes was involved in at least one step for creating the world, and that guaranteed step was the breaking of the eggshell.

This is not in the book, but in the Gnostic Chorus custcene, there is a black serpent tied surrounding the gnostic/genesis pearl. The pearl and an egg are sort of interchangeable, and according to mythology, Phanes is a figure that has the serpent Ananke coiled around him. So that matches up well.

» Theory 2: Phanes is the Primordial One’s soul, just like what Cocouik was to Ochkan

Och-kan, a half-human half-dragon being who hated dragons, sabotaged the plans of his father (the Sage of the Stolen Flame) by following the human Pyro Sovereign Xbalanque - and, after Xbalanque’s death, forbid people from worshiping either the Night Kingdom or even other gods. In his quest to save humans, he became a Tyrant, whose erratic behavior only got worse after excavations that led him to meet Ixlel.

Ixlel was a prophetic figure that used to lead the dragon civilization of the area in the past, who at first was an ally of Och-kan but, upon sharing secret knowledge and prophecies with him, was betrayed. She got revenge by convincing him to use his draconic nature to power his city, by putting his Soul in the Core of Chu'ulel (who later became Cocuik, freed only much later by Bona, after the Cataclysm). Even after Och-kan was overthrown by rebels, he couldn’t die because of that split between body and soul, and his now fully dragon body was used by his father to be an Abyssal conduit, until the interference of the Traveler in the present.

This story has many more details, and once again matches the concept of Chemical Marriage and prophecies that doom Kings, so you can check my post on the topic for proper details.

There are several similarities between Venti and Cocouik:

Color scheme and overall shape is the same, that was literally what everyone first thought when seeing it

In wisp form, he had 3 wings, or rather, 3 separate parts that didnt even connect to his body, they just floated behind him, sort of like the wings of the twins at the start of the game, and exactly like the 3 wings of Cocouik. And in human form, his Vision has a single wing with 3 parts.

The power that Cocouik displays against the dragon resembles the power that Venti lends to the traveler to use against Dvalin in the flying sequences. That is the power to supress the corrosive power of the Abyss - it’s what Venti uses, and it’s in the description of Cocouik’s ability too

The description of Cocouik also mentions a halo, within which the Traveler is protected form the Abyss, and halos are often associated with angels

So… if all of those things are comparable with Venti, why would the fact that Cocouik is the soul of a dragon not be?

Oh, right, there was a sus leak that broke my mind months ago and seemed completely nonsensical, but since I started cooking this theory, I can’t help but look back at it. It claimed that Venti was the guide of the Primordial One. Humm… yeah, if Venti was the soul of the PO, I could see that. Maybe he is assuming Istaroth’s role now that she is gone in supporting the PO?

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List of EVERYTHING sus and interesting about Venti

Some of the following things will correlate to the theories presented above, while others are just fun fancts that I didn’t know where to place.

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Appearance

» Wings:

I already discussed the relevancy of Venti’s angel form and how that ties with being a Seelie, and potentially cursed at first. But the wings are also relevant for another reason: Phanes is described has having wings.

But there is more:

Both in his fake Vision and in wisp form, he only has wings on one side of his body. Just like Cocouik. Possibly hinting at an incomplete nature, or at a duality of natures (dragon and seelie, or the others I already considered)

The wisp wing is formed sort of by 3 wings/parts, and the same is sort of true for the wing in his Vision. The number 3 might just be a coincidence, but it would also fit well with the connections between a chemical marriage and the involvement of the dove, with that third presence representing how a person has 3 parts, body, soul, and spirit. And I already argued why I think Phanes is the PO’s soul.

It’s also possible that this connects with the idea that angels supposedly have 6 wings. So by just having 3 or 3 parts, that is **half of that, aka half angel/**seelie

Funnily enough, in Archon Form he has a wing at each side, and I can’t fully point why that contrast given the previous 2 cases. It’s similar to what happens to Arlecchino in boss form.

Contrary to what the statues portray, the wings in Archon form don’t connect to his back, instead seemingly fusing with his cloak. In Wisp form, and Cocouik’s case, the wings also didn’t connect. That resembles the wings of the twins at the start of the game, the mechanical wings of The Sage of the Stolen Flame, and the wings of the Seelies/envoys always depicted in murals.

In Archon form, the wings have a circular metallic part further hinting at how the wings might be mechanical/not a part of the body. Besides that, the shape has 3 tips, and strongly resembles the wings of the boss Lord of Eroded Primal Fire / Gosoythoth when imitating the form of the Pyro Sovereign. Once again connecting Venti with dragons, although dragons and seelies are really just variations of the same species.

Mondstadt's vision case also has wings - specifically 6 wings / 2 wings with 3 parts (thanks to tamare1307 on tumblr for pointing this out)

» Other characteristics:

Phanes is also described as androgynous, which, yeah, Venti definitely is. The androginity also matters in the context of a chemical marriage between a union of opposites, since Phanes is supposed to reunite the traits of both “parents”, and the gender-neutral appearance is not the only fusion relevant here. If he turns out to be part dragon part seelie, that is just as relevant.

One thing lacking in Venti, that Phanes has, is a crown. Not even his Archon form has one, at least, not so far. But some people point out that the base of his beret hat has a golden intricate line that could kinda be interpreted as a mini-crown.

Another interesting point about his appearance is the fact that, in wisp form, the top of his head was shaped like an apple, with even a stem and leaf-shape on top. I will talk about the relevance of apples next.

His whole wisp form heavily resembles Cocouik, the soul of a dragon, and I already went over why that matters in one of my theories. The powers Venti lends to the traveler to shoot against Dvalin also resemble the powers of Cocouik used against Ochkan.

And ofc, he has a Cecilia in his hat, and I will go over the relevance of that.

Mondstadt's vision has a crown. Specifically, a 5 tips crown, with the central tip being bigger, which would tie greatly with the PO and the 4 Shades (thanks to @tamara1307 on tumblr for pointing this out)

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“When I first arrived here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste”

During the Mondstadt Archon quest, Venti says that "When I first arrived here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste".

Here are some guesses of mine that could explain that:

We know that his Archon form presents him as an angel (source: manga, official arts, and in-game arts and statues) and that angels are seelies (thanks to Natlan’s Archon quest). We also know that the Seelies and Moon kingdom fell, probably symbolizing the end of the Unified Civilization, as a consequence of the marriage between a Seelie and a Traveler from afar, who in turn was likely the Second Who Came, who waged war more a less at the same time as Nibelung and his War of Vengeance. Refer to my (future) other theories for more details. What matters here is that, after that event, the Seelies were cursed to lose their minds and original form, thus why they present as we currently see them in-game. And if angels were seelies, that was probably Venti’s fate too, thus why he showed up as a wisp to the bard.

Since he is comparing himself with Dvalin, maybe his curse was instead related with abyssal corruption. We don’t know what happened to the Primordial One who is currently afk, but if Venti was his soul, and considering that Nibelung used forbidden knowledge and maybe even abyssal energy (unsure of how much those two things overlap), perhaps Nibelung tainted the PO in the confrontation.

Alternatively, maybe he was cursed at existence, which could also explain how he somehow got involved with the bard and the rebellion in Mondstadt and possibly didn't have a strong identity before that? If he was derived from the primordial one, and the PO was the Usurper who took the power away from the original dragons, I don’t think it would be unheard of in stories for the off-spring of authority figures to be cursed by those who hated them.

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Knowledge of secret information, and songs of the past, present and future

» About General types of knowledge:

He is the one narrating the Gnostic Chorus cutscene, so he knows about the origins of Teyvat and other important stuff.

He ruled Mondstadt for a long time alongside Istaroth (the Thousand Winds temple was used to worship both of them), so she might have shared relevant knowledge with him from the period of the Unified Civilization, and even from before that.

He knows of others worlds, and titans: "In other, distant worlds…Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and seas…the gods sacrificed Purusha and cut his body to pieces, and then fashioned all living beings with those parts…the brain of the giant Ymir became clouds. Their sacrifices seeded life in the unliving cosmos. These songs sing of the primeval ones."

In fact, he tells the Traveler about that in the manga prologue, and I don't think none of the things there were discarded - in fact, judging by the element of the traveler (Pyro) in this scene, I and some people speculated for a while that we would return to Mondstadt after Natlan.

» About music - I have a whole post on the importance of music for Teyvat incoming:

He claims to know all songs of the past, present and future, which even denotes knowledge that transcends time, fitting for the son of Istaroth, the Thousand Winds of Time - and also for a Seelie/Angel, which we know he is given his Archon form, who were always prophets.

Istaroth is heavily connected to the moons, who controlled the Fates - past, present, and future - and who were named after song and poetry: Aria, Sonnet, and Canon. The loading screen song, that is the theme of Genshin, is even called Dream Aria. Dream Aria might very well be the Sourcesong that I’m going to elaborate on soon.

Seelies/angels are in turn connected to the moons, and they are at least from the period of the Unified Civilization. They, just like possibly the dragons who originally inhabited Teyvat, know well the value of song. That once again matches with Venti, in part because of his angel archon form, and in part because of how he values song as a way to preserve the truth.

People theorize that Venti is trying to find the Sourcesong, or even knows it already, thus why he knows songs from past, present, and future. According to the Aranara, all songs in the world derive from the Sourcesong, that can diverge into different memories, just like a river diverges into creeks, yet just like creeks eventually flow into the sea, the songs converse.

In other words, that definition might hint at the creation of a hivemind and fusing the souls of the people into a collective conscience, similar to what some God-Kings ended up doing in their attempts at saving humanity and controlling Fate, with Remus being the most relevant since he used the Symphony of Fate to weave the threads, and fates, as if they were strings of an intrument. They only attempted those feats after meeting with Seelies. [Check my future post about Chemical Marriage to see an exhaustive list of all cases of that in genshin]

Venti also canonically states he can read the the rhythmic flow of energy dispersed by the Abyss Order and copy its magic with his lyre - that was how he took down the barriers during the Archon Quest.

His constellation is called Carmen Day, "God of Songs", although in practice that's the title he is less refered as. As 4clover31 on tumblr added: "Carmen also means God's Vineyard, plus, the term Carme or Carmen was used by Romans to reference a poem with a ritual and propitiatory tone."

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Venti’s strength

Funnily enough, I don’t find this point relevant for my theory, because even if he turns out to be the weakest Archon currently, there can be many explanations for that, and that is not indicative of his original strength. So it’s possible that he was extremelly powerful and still the soul/son of the PO, while being weak now.

But here is a list of what the fandom usually points out, and the different sides of the argument:

Venti is currently weak:

That’s what he claims, justifying it by saying that the strength of an Archon depends on how much faith the people of the Nation have in their Archon. Since he doesn’t actively rule Mondstadt, and people are free from his influence, he sort of implies that they don’t believe in his enough and that he his willing to let his powers pay the price for his ideals

He hasn’t showcased particularly strong powers even when Mondstadt was in crisis, or when trying to stop Signora from taking away the Gnosis.

We also know he has been gone for a long time, returning to Mondstadt during the Stormterror crisis, so it’s possible that he hasn’t regained his powers.

Maybe he was strong when returning to Mondstadt at present, but he delivered the Anemo Authority to Dvalin by the end of the Archon quest, so even if he lied initially, he is actually weaker now.

Venti is currently strong:

People who defend this argue by using Venti’s own definition of what grants power to an Archon, basically by pointing out how, in some ways, he is more worshipped than many other Archons, even if he doesn’t use that to rule the people. He has a Church, people in Mondstadt clearly pray to Barbatos and mention him often, and they completely adhere and live according to his ideals

As such, there is no reason for him to have lost the powers he once presented, like when he terraformed the land of Mondstadt and also completely changed its weather (after Old Mondstadt got rid of Decarabian, since at the time Mondatadt was covered in snow)

Consequently, Venti simply pretended to be weak out of respect for the autonomy and independence of the humans

Some people who believe this think he was just pretending until the Gnosis was taken, while others think he handed out a fake Gnosis and didn’t even try to resist Signora, and there is even people who think he lost the Gnosis but that hasn’t affected his powers

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Cecilias

The only characters in the game connected with Cecilias are: Venti, Istaroth (we see that in Ei’s second story quest), and Albedo (a prototype primordial human, who uses Cecilias as his Ascencion material too)

Cecilias were confirmed in an event, and then at the start of Natlan, to represent “the true feelings of the prodigal son”. But that information actually is as old as his announcement, way back in 2019.

An inactive user in this post found that the name Cecilia possibly came from a Latin word meaning "blind", and according to this source, “Cecilia is as much to say as the lily of heaven, or a way to blind men.” SexyPoro also commented that it’s a variant of the word caecus, that can mean other variations of blind, such as Devoid of light, Vague, Aimless, Invisible, Hidden, Secret, Obscure

Fun fact, Caerus, that sounds a lot like caecus, is an alternatively spelling of Kairos, another of Istaroth’s names. Kairos is a Greek god that resembles Hermes, and who needs wind to fly. Guess that might explain why she ruled Mondstadt alongside Venti for a while, like the Mondstadt saying goes, seeds of stories need to be brought by the wind before they can be cultivated by time.

The Saint Cecilia is a virgin martyr in christianity, and the patron of musicians, composers and poets.

Cecilias are also an important symbol in HI3. They are the symbol of the House Schariac, known for Divine Maidens, warriors who have a chance of taking in the Holy Blood. The Abyss Flower in that game, a ‘Divine Key’ and weapon from the civilization’s Previous Era made specifically to kill herrschers, is also a Cecilia. It’s very possible that Istaroth/Kairos turns out to be an expy of HI3’s Cecilia. She’s known for wielding the Abyss Flower.

The closest real life inspiration would be the flower trillium, which represent the Holy Trinity in Christianity, in turn correlated with the chemical marriage (remember when I mentioned the addition of the dove so that the number 3 represented body, soul and spirit? And how those 3 parts are important for parallels between Cocouik and Ochkan?)

Cecilias look a lot like triquetras, once again connected with the Holy Trinity in Christianism, while in Celtic culture it represents the triple goddesses (3 goddesses that function as a whole, like the Moirai or Norse Norns, who in turn are a bit like the Tribbies of HSR and the 3 moons/fates of genshin). Triquetras are a recurring symbol in Genshin.

Everything here hints at the importance of Venti’s birth and lineage. And while he might just be connected to Istaroth and things stop there, and it would be enough to justify that importance, it’s still possible that it means a little more.

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Venti and apples, the fruit of Fate

Here is a list of every connection between Venti and apples that I could find:

In his wisp form, the top of his head is shaped like an apple, including stem and leaf.

He is always asking for apples, even as payment. He also offers them sometimes. He also really enjoys apple cider.

While terraforming Mondstadt, he created the Golden Apple Archipelago

Speaking of golden apples, he literally offers one in one of his birthday arts, and the text that accompanies it is one of the most suspicious things ever: “It is written that there is a whole tiny world hidden inside an apple core. Here, this half is for you. Let's take a stroll in the tiny little world. But remember to keep it a secret because... you're the only one I want to bring there.” Please keep this in mind.

Mondstadt is a land full of apples. There are a few apple trees in Liyue too, and ofc thishas to do with the inspirations behind Mondstadt, so it’s a tenue connection, but still fitting.

Especially in anime, Apples are often depicted as the fruit of Fate (look no further than Mawaru Penguindrum), and in Inazuma, the girl giving Fortune Slips is called Gendou Ringo, with Ringo meaning ‘apple’ in Japanese.

In Sethian Gnosticism, in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they succumb to the serpent’s temptation and eat the forbidden fruit (often imagined as an apple) from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is depicted as a good thing, and as the first step towards freedom from Yaldabaoth (a demiurge, chaos entity and false god, who keeps the souls of people trapped in physical bodies).

I can’t help but wonder if the connection with apples means that he has secret knowledge and awareness of fates and the future, and is waiting for someone else to learn it too, to assume control of Fate or to break free.

If he derived from the PO, that would also made him sort of serpent/dragon-like, or at least part dragon part seelie/angel. He is probably holding fate in his hands - and if an apple contains a tiny world, according to what he said, holding it is not too different from holding the Genesis Pearl - once again tying him with the Gnostic Chorus.

The fact that Venti has only offered one half of the apple in his birthday art may connect with the fact that Phanes only rules half of the world, while the other half, potentially the Abyss, belongs to Nix, the Night Mother. It may alternatively connect to the idea of Chemical Marriage and union of opposites, since that seems to be a fundamental pattern in Teyvat, as I already mentioned.

(Thank you to u/HashtagLowElo on reddit for reminding me of this) In Lyney's teaser, when Lyney is sitting at the bard with the drunkard, Lyney took his drink and transformed it into an apple scented wine. As the man closed his eyes to drink it, Lyney transformed it into an apple before talking about the connection between miracles and magic tricks while also going on to hold the moon. So, the apple was somewhat compared to the moon.

The Golden Apple is specifically relevant in mythology. For example, in Greek Mythology, the Golden Apple of Discord was thrown by Eris at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, leading to the Judgement of Paris and the Trojan War. In the Garden of the Hesperides, golden apples were guarded by a dragon and were part of Hercules' labors. In Irish Mythology, golden apples are depicted on the Silver Branch of the Otherworld.

And if you are not convinced, Amphoreus in Honkai Star Rail literally just presented a golden apple as the Fruit of Fate. That is obtained after playing a tune on wind chimes.

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Sacramental Wine, Dionysus and Phanes

Some myths say that Phanes was Dionysus (god of wine… amongst other things), or Eros (god of love, yes I’m simplifying), and oh boy isn’t Venti the god of all of that too? Although this is complicated since it has to do with gods being iterations of past gods and such.

Okay, this gets less obvious now. Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge.

Let’s keep talking about wine. I have to start by recommending this video by Ashikai that I used for a lot of the info that follows.

Sacramental Wine is consumed after sacramental bread, in celebration of the Eucharist. The Catholic Church maintains that by the consecration, the substances of the bread and wine actually become the substances of the body and blood of Christ, and in genshin, a similar process happens when a being consumes the body/blood of gods - sometimes even inheriting powers and an extended lifespan, although corruption as well.

The different types of liquids/elixirs in genshin can even be compared to real life ones: leyline liquid is nectar, primordial seawater is absinthe, and forbidden knowledge is wine. Refer to Ashikai’s video for explanations on the first two, but regarding wine, in the book A Drunkard’s Tale, a character says: “What you humans call wine, we wolves call the abyss”. I already shared how many things connected to Venti relate to the Abyss, from Cecilias to the origins of Phanes.

Fungi (more specifically, yeast) are required to make wine, for the processes of fermentation, and you can see in the list of game examples below how much fungi are relevant in the process of eucharistic rites and how often they are sacramental, as a way to grant powers or memories. Mushrooms in a circle also form the so-called fairy-rings, and besides the importance of rings in the context of genshin as objects that confer power to god-kings, they are also considered a portal. They are also called witch’s rings.

» Mondstadt and wine

Mondstadt is heavily known for its wines, and not just for the production of it. During the distiling process, the portion of alcohol that evaporates is even callled Angel’s Share, the name of Diluc’s tavern. Angels, or seelies, in turn tend to have alcoholic beverages associated with them (really, watch Ashikai’s video for more evidence).

Wine breewing is also heavily connected to witches, who have strong connections with Mondstadt. The witches are also connected to Venti, as revealed in the second Windblume Festival.

Speaking of witches, I already mentioned how witches’ rings or fairy rings are made of mushrooms and considered portals.

Albedo is a famous alchemist created by the witch Rhinedottir. Alcohol is one of the possible solvents used in alchemy, known as alkahest. In Lulian alchemy, quintessence is a solvent distilled from wine, sometimes called aether. Alkahest is the ascension material used for the sword Cinnabar Spindle, and cinnabar in turn refers to the Rubedo stage of the Magnum Opus. That’s typically the final stage, although genshin swaps it, with citrinitas/gold, but usually the Magnum Opus ties with the Chemical Marriage - you know, the thing I said that created Phanes.

Oceanids are often associated with turning water into Wine. The weapon Dialogues of the Desert Sages supports that idea. The oceanid of Springvale, also sometimes called a fairy, blessed/cursed Diona to always make great alcoholic beverages. Oceanids also strongly resemble Hydro Idolons, and Idolons are the kind of ghost most associated with Istaroth, even being one of the names for the Sin Shades from Enkanomiya.

In the Alchemy Ascension event, conveniently said by Venti while standing with Diona, he says “If alchemy has the power to transform matter… I wonder if it could also be used to turn water into wine?”

Kaeya’s Skewers are soaked in Death after Noon, Kaeya’s favorite drink, and if you check the list of examples, you can see that the medicine for Caribert required drawing water in the early AfterNoon, and it was used to water the mushrooms growing on the body of Caribert’s dead mom. The drink is also made with absinthe. The drink, or Kaeya’s skewers, are also mentioned in many sus quests, like Canotila quest about dissolving people and their memories, and in a dialogue with Xamaran.

» Examples of sacramental food/wine in genshin

The desert is full of such examples, from Apep who got to eat King Deshret after his death to gain his knowledge, to the Consecrated Beasts (”consecreated” even means “blessed”.

Jacob in Fontaine also turned into a Iniquitous Baptist abyssal creature after consuming the flesh of a dragon, and it’s possible that other abyss creatures - not hillichurls - went through a similar process, especially considering how all of them have a type named after religious positions (even mages, since the word comes from “Magi” who was a Zoroastrian priest).

Rukkhashava mushrooms, in CN, are called Rukkhadevata Sacramental Mushrooms. Before the description change, it said that the Akademia Sages consumed them to honor the sacrifice of the goddess, and remember her wisdom, like in a Eucharistic ritual. This mushroom is based on the Reishi mushroom (believed to give immortality in Taoism). Wanderer, who tried to ascend to godhood, and Collei who contains remnants of a snake god, need this as an ascension material.

In the first Caribert quest, we see a red/cinnabar version of these mushrooms. They grew in the body of Clothar’s dead wife, and while mushrooms grow on wood, Norse mythology believes that humans were carved from trees. He also had to draw water in the early afternoon (Death After Noon is the name of Kaeya’s favorite drink) to tend to them, and for the medicine. The medicine for Caribert created from those mushrooms had to be blessed by a god, and it followed a similar recipe to the Memory Recipe taught by the Aranara: a Rukkhashava mushroom variation, a lotus (Kalpalata/Barsam), and a purple flower (Sumeru rose/Yajna grass). It’s a sacramental beverage.

Fun fact, the taxonomic name for the Reishi mushroom is ganoderma, and there are mushroom-like aquatic ascension materials called Sea Ganoderma in genshin. Their description says “In the folktales told in a certain land, these mouthless, noseless creatures are the transformed souls of children who died young.” They are used by Yae Miko (guards a Irminsul tree) and Kazuha (ganoderma really like mapple trees)

Xamaran, the giant mushroom in the Chasm, is often taken as the irminsul tree of the area (it even looks like a dragon tree), or instead as a mushroom growing in the body of the main Irminsul (like how mushrooms grow on trees). The name sounds like Shahmaran, a mythological being from Persian mythology who was half human half snake, and the name can be broken into "queen/king of serpents" - and serpents in genshin are somewhat interchangeable with dragons. There are tales both about the queen and the king. What matters is that in the Queen's tale, her flesh leads to recovery, her broth leads to knowledge, and her extract leads to death.

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Confused timelines and slumbers

I don’t think there are many instances of this, but there are a few examples that fans point of Venti possibly confusing timelines - either because the wind is free from the confines of time, or because of Venti’s connections with Istaroth and even poential prophetic abilities.

One is during Mondstadt’s AQ, when he tells the Traveler to meet at the “usual place” when we have never met him there before.

Another is a voiceover hidden in a menu, where he greets the Traveler with “Ah, Traveler, we meet again! What? You don't remember me? Ahaha, well, allow me to join you on your quest once again.”

He had to dissapear and go into slumber multiple times, usually after seemingly using a lot of his power: some time after establishing new Mondstadt and making sure that the humans got it (we see him waking up in the manga and realizing how corrupt the aristocracy had become), some time after helping Vennessa win and form the Knights and still taking some time to raise Dvalin, and after the fight against Durin. People theorize it’s only after moments where he spends lots of power, but since we don’t know the exact circunstances that made him go to slumber for the first 2 examples, it’s hard to say.

There was an old reddit post by u/ahellbornlady (thank you to Jolita_Bonita on ao3 for finding it for me) that even theorized that Venti met the Traveler not in some kind of past life/time that was reset - I have seen people theorize that too but it's not really what I believe - but rather in dreams, since they were both in slumber after the Cataclysm. It's even possible that the poem that Venti shares during the first Windblume event - that changes in CN depending on the gender of the Traveler, proving it's about them - was about how they met. It has some interesting verses like "Who was it that stroked your bloodied, determined visage. By stream flowing small, by boulder standing large." and "Who was it that embraced your weary yet noble soul, in dreams deep, in skies soaring." I have an upcoming post about dreams too.

He also wakes up in this location in the manga, that strongly resembles a location shown in the trailer of the anime, so people guess it will be important. The location even shares one of the symbols of Venti and Istaroth (edited pics from https://x.com/Yivvee/status/1899111907627516062/photo/2).

This also looks a lot like a portal, which is interesting considering that the base of his big statue has inscribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia" (thak you to 4clover31 on tumblr for the reminder)

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Illusions, fake identities and lots of pretending

Voicelines from Archons say “About Venti” instead of “About Barbatos”, although all other gods are refered to with their god name. There are exceptions in the patterns of speaking about the topic from the archons, for example Furina is an obvious exception, Nahida never met the other archons, etc... Still, when mentioned, he is never called Barbatos. Even Neuvilette calls him Anemo Archon.

Even in the Archon quest, in the same conversation where he tells us about allogenes and Gnosis after the confrontation with Signora, Paimon says that the “Tone-Deaf Bard is just one of the many Barbatos incarnations” - I wonder if the CN text says this as well...

He doesn't currently use Barbatos' Lyre. Now, that might just be because he is pretending to not be Barbatos, and consequently he couldn't just demand it from the church, as we have seen to an extent in the Prologue. But there might be more to it, since he could have just opted to take that lyre with him or hid it somewhere else before going into slumber, instead of delivering it to the church. So what if that is not his lyre (it could be from the Nameless Bard, or from Istaroth), or what if it is the Lyre of Barbatos but he is just a fragment of Barbatos?

Celestia also doesn't seem to like him (Voiceline Mora about Venti - IV). Could it be because he refuses to take the throne? Because it just doesn't approve of his behavior and attitude? Or maybe because he isn't fully Barbatos? And yet, his bigger statue in Mondstadt has incribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia"...

He has shown his illusion abilities by faking the repair of the Lyre right before Signora showed up to steal his Gnosis, which makes some people believe that the Gnosis he gave away was fake.

Winking. He is always winking. In most official arts, and very often in-game too. Why would that be relevant? Because eyes, especially having eyes covered/closed, are very significant in genshin and hint at the ability to perceive the truth instead of the illusion/dream created by the Irminsul. Check my future post about patterns in the Hoyoverse for more info - I will try to list every example there, from Kaeya’s legacy, to fictional Fischl, God-Kings and their artifact sets, and ofc Irmin. He might not be immune to the Irminsul changes, but he certainly tries to combat that with stories.

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Symbols

(the cecilia got its own section, just like the apple)

» Queen Gnosis

Arguably the most important piece in chess, not counting the King and its limitations, and it’s also the piece that Venti had (maybe still has, depending if the theory that he gave away a false Gnosis to Signora is correct or not)

Funnily enough, some connect the chess queen's fluid movement to the moon’s shifting cycles, and queens were often linked to fertility and cosmic balance, just like moons were.

It might also be a hint to him currently representing Istaroth’s role in her absence.

» Mondstadt's Vision

Thanks to tamara1307 for this: Mondstadt's vision case literally has wings and a crown, matching the description of Phanes.

And not just any wings or any crown:

the wings have 6 parts, each side with 3, and I have already mentioned how recurring that is in genshin

the crown has 5 tips, the central one bigger than the others, with 2 different pairs of tips. That matches the PO and the 4 shades, and also the dualities of life/death, time/space.

» Rosa dei Venti

Recently, people clocked that the icons always present in the UI represent the 4 shades:

Shade of Time is the "compass" of the events (I will explain)

Shade of Death is the homa symbol that is so important in genshin, and now we literally know that Ronova has wings like that

Shade of Space is the Sustainer, who shows up in the game by those sta/diamonds precisely, and screen takes us to space to wish for characters

Shade of Life is probably the character icon

Why is the Compass associated with Istaroth? It's not the compass, but rather the 8-point star. It's not just the symbol of Khaenri'ah, but the symbol of the morning star, and Istaroth is heavily, heavily inspired by goddesses in mythology that represent the morning star. I actually have a whole post prepared about this, but believe me when I swear that it's the symbol of Istaroth.

Thing is that, when that symbol is in a compass, it can be called Rosa dei Venti.

... So Istaroth really went and named her "son" of Venti. It's kinda ridiculous in hindsight.

I also wouldn't be surprised if this all tied back to Phanes/Venti being the guide of the Primordial One, like in those sus leaks I mentioned. Thus, the compass.

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Dissapearances for long periods, Death and Leylines

In the Orphic tradition, Phanes is said to be a dying and resurrecting god, killed by the Titans who devoured his flesh but rescued by Athena and resurrected by Zheus. Maybe, to which extent, we could correlate the Titans (Athena and Zeus) to the dragons, Istaroth and the Primordial One.

Venti dissapears for long periods of time, and dying and resurrecting could be a way to explain that.

Dionysus, the god of wine - who, like I mentioned before, is often equated with Phanes - dies at the hands of the Titans, and that has been considered the central myth of Orphism. I elaborate more about Orphism, and specifically Orpheus, in a following section.

Dionysus was the patron god of the Orphics, who they connected to death and immortality, and he symbolized the one who guides the process of reincarnation. That strongly resembles Venti’s ability to help souls pass… to wtv is the place of the souls, Irminsul or something, like he did in his story quest, and that is likely what allows souls to reincarnate in Teyvat as well.

Unsure how that works exactly, but Istaroth and Venti definitely have some strange connections with death and leylines. And since this post is about Venti and not his mom, let’s also not forget that he shines in the leyline color multiple times too. In fact, his Archon outfit has more blue than exactly green, and same for his wisp form, although that might be an extension of angels being seelies.

It’s fairly known that the artifact categories correspond to the Primordial One and the 4 Shades, and one of them is the Plume of Death. It’s usually associated with Ronova, the Shade of Death, but even so Venti is heavily associated with feathers. Even in Natlan, those who carry an ancient name have it engraved in a feather-shaped obsidian toten, in turn having connections to the Night Kingdom.

Venti and Istaroth are mostly associated with Cecilias, but they also have some light connections with dandelions - more specifically, Venti is the only anemo character that dandelions are drawn towards after being blown, and the parts that fly are basically seeds of dead flowers. That ties in well with their quote about “seeds of stories” (in other words, the memories of people), and their connections with leylines and souls of people who passed on. In Teyvat, souls are often refered to as flowers in metaphors (I will expand on that in a future post about symbols in the game).

Venti also has a few connections with Windwheel Asters, basically stars (and Aster is also the beginning of Astaroth, one of the inspirations behind Istaroth). And stars and constellations are in turn heavily connected to the fates of people in Teyvat.

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Similarities to Orpheus the Bard

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a legendary bard, and the founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries.

He perfected the lyre invented by Hermes. Venti also probably perfected the lyre of the bard, and (noticed by 4clover31 on tumblr) in the Chasm there is a letter that mentions his lyre: "Not if my destructive self were made to be the lyre of Barbatos".

The suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans has been considered the central myth of Orphism - and I already mentioned before how Dionysus and wine and all of that have their own connections to Venti. There is also the fact that Phanes belongs to the Orphic myth as well, although as a different entity: Dionysus at most, but not Orpheus.

Besides the bard and lyre aspects that clearly match Venti, the fact that Orpheus was a prophet is also very fitting since, as I mentioned before, Venti knows the songs of the past/present/future, and is probably a prophet given how Seelies/Angels always are.

So I propose that Orpheus corresponds to Venti’s bard identity, that he takes to avoid assuming the role of an Archon, while Dionysus/Phanes correspond to his Barbatos aspect.

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Compiling Abyss Connections

Look, most of this section are things mentioned in others, I just wanted to point out that there is a not insignificant number of connections between Venti and the Abyss... And I also didn't know where else to include the Inverted Statue.

The Abyss Order uses an inverted Venti Statue, for their ritual in one of the Archon Quests. Could just be coincidence, but with the ritual in Liyue, it would make more sense to use a statue of Morax

One of the potential origins of mythology Phanes says he emerged from the Abyss

Venti gives us one half of the apple in that birthday art I mentioned - the other half possibly represents the Abyss

He is always drinking wine, and wine is called Abyss by the wolves

He can understand the music of Abyss creatures, even using it to dispel barriers in the prologue

The Abyss Flower and Divine Key in Honkai 3rd is a Cecilia

It's possible that he hasn't even been to Celestia, or at least seems to indicate he isn't wanted there, although that voiceline can be interpreted in many ways

I will just mention how in the recent 5.6 stream art he is mostly in the shadow - tenue connection, but still

You know the "purifying abilities" of the Traveler, that have the great side effects of healing the beings they target, that are now understood as the Traveler just absorbing the abyss taint for themselves? Venti has multiple times displayed similar purifying abilities, like when lending powers to the Traveler to fight Dvalin (again, like Cocouik), healing Xiao with his music, and maybe more that I forgot.

Check the proof/pictures for these things in sections above

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Mondstadt

Mondstadt, the fairytale land with connections to every part of Teyvat (the Prologue was literally used to introduce everything, and every character there is representative of future content). I couldn’t leave out the Nation that Venti is an Archon of.

First, let’s talk about the period before Venti’s Archonhood, while he was just a wisp caught up in Old Mondstadt:

Decarabian was a participant of the Archon War - but what exactly motivated him?

The Archon War: It took place right after the fall of the Unified Civilization when Archons were the solution necessary to help stabilize Teyvat after the disasters brought by the War of Vengeance. Decarabian’s opponent was Andrius/Boreas, who likely came from Snezhnaya, and brought snow and blizzards to all of Teyvat. Mondstadt was completely covered in snow.

The safety of humans: To keep the humans in Mondstadt safe, especially from the cold, Decarabian enclosed them in a wind barrier (some, like the Lawrence Clan and possibly the Gunnhildr Clan not yet named that at the time, managed to leave the city). He micromanaged the city, forbid rebellious songs (although the CN version of Venti’s retelling implies that he only accepted hymns), and his winds were so strong that they forced people to bend their backs. He mistook that as respect, unaware that the humans resented him, which later led to their revolution to take down their god.

All for a Dream: Becoming a Tyrant in an attempt to protect humanity is not the only similarity he shares with other God-Kings. He was trying to attain a Dream, possibly another hivemind project - according to Fragment of Decarabian’s Epic, "If it were not for the song of freedom that shattered the city in an instant, Decarabian's dream would have gone on forever.” He might even have something akin to Deshret’s mausuleum or projects from other god-kings under his tower, the only location in the whole game that, if we try to access it, makes Paimon say something different than the usual: “Watch out! Don't go near there!”. In the cutscene of his death, he looks like a Sun when exploding, further connecting him to sun-kings or red-kings. Something something eternal dream and hiveminds.

Besides his goals, his appearance might also connect him to God-Kings.

We never see his appearance - possibly because Hoyo intends to show he was a dragon or had draconic features, which would make sense given that his tower has arches big enough for a dragon, a floating platform above, and was chosen by Dvalin as a nest. More likely than not, he even had the Authority of Anemo and was a Dragon Sovereign - not just because he was the God of Storms, but because he was associated with a divine throne that was destroyed during the rebellion. That has been officially confirmed now in this post (check pics below), but that was actually never hidden. The og ENG translations were simply bad, and replaced throne with crown for the purpose of rhyming, but you can see that this fan translation by dkniade pointed that it said throne in CN, along with mentions to a god’s seat.

ENG translations also still call Decarabian of Anemo Archon, which is simply incorrect because the Archon War wasn’t over yet, but maybe that was because they mistook it as Anemo Sovereign?

Amos was also far more important han people realize:

It’s unclear how Decarabian met Amos - maybe under his tower, closer to Leyline stuff? - but she was almost certainly a Seelie.

Amos became Decarabian’s lover who later joined the rebellion against him.

Her appearance, white white hair and blue clothes, already gives some slight seelie and moon themes.

She was the only member of the rebellion with a name (Either because the name of other members was forgotten to history, or maybe something more significant, like them rejecting their names and the roles they represented, or maybe names in Old Mondstadt were just the things people did, like being a Bard. I’m not counting last names, since we have those).

She had prophetic dreams, as you can see in her quotes in Amos’ Bow, and the biblical figure of Amos was a prophet - and Seelies were prophets too.

Seelies also often sided and protected humanity, which is what she did by joining the rebellion. Players often assume that she was human because of the dreams she had for humanity, but nothing actually states that.

Last but not least, she might have been the one who killed Decarabian (again implied in her bow), and it probably takes a non-human powerful being to do so.

What about the other characters involved?

Like I said before, the others had no names, only last names at most. Possible exlanations: 1) the name of other members was forgotten to history 2) they rejected their names and the roles they represented (since we know how names are tied to a person's fate in Teyvat) 3) maybe names in Old Mondstadt were just the things people did, like being a Bard 4) names were possibly hidden to hide their identities from the Irminsul

The rebels came up with the Windblume tradition, although it had a different meaning back then

Nameless Bard: We don’t know much about the Nameless Bard… but he was the rebel who led the rebellion, and whose form Venti took after once he died, due to being a dear friend of Venti. He had a Cecilia pinned to his chest, which is relevant. His lyre was different from the typically large lyres of the time, as mentioned in the description of the teapot lyre. I can’t help but wonder if he is a reincarnation of other rebels from history: The young man (probably an Alberich, but that’s another theory) from the period of the Unified Civilization, that was possessed by the Traveler From Afar and went to the Ancient Seelie to free her. It’s possible that he later reincarnated into story Ajax (the one who ended in Hyperborea) drawn by vague memories of the seelie he once loved. My other guesses, besides the Nameless Bard, are the Crimson-Eyed Youth who rebelled against Och-kan. I am undecided if currently he is represented by Alice or Childe, to be honest - in part because Idk to which extenct we should separate the identities of the female Traveler from Afar and the male figures she possesses.

Red-haired warrior: He was a traveler who wasn't from Mondstadt (no idea how he managed to enter), and he was with the bard when he died in the cutscene. He is potentially an antecedent of the Ragnvindr family, but it's not certain, since he left Mondstadt after the death of his friend.

Gunnhildr: The Gunnhildr clan wasn't called that at the time - it changed name in her honor after she was a hero in the rebellion. But before all of that, she and her clan managed to leave the city and, when suffering in the cold outside, she prayed, somehow manifesting or attracting Venti. It's unclear when did she return to the city or how, but we see her in the final battle in the TCG card.

There are mentions of figures from other clans that were involved, like Lawrence members and the Imulaukr Clan.

Andrius: After Decarabian was taken down, Andrius realized he wasn’t fit to rule humans and became a ghost, the rebellion leader was dead, so was Amos, and the red-haired warrior felt hurt and left. So the Archon position went to Venti, who took the form of his friend and terraformed Mondstadt, but didn’t take the Divine Throne. That might be the actual reason why he is the “weakest of the archons” if that really is true. He also tried to not exert authority over humans.

Official translation vs Literal fan translation vs Recent official post

Alright, and what about present Mondstadt?

Aristocracy period: Venti ruled Mondstadt alongside Istaroth for a while, with the Temple of the Thousand Winds dedicated to the worship of both. It’s unclear when Istaroth was forgotten by time, and why Venti had to get into slumber, but he was gone for a long period and, when he woke up, the Aristocracy of Mondstadt (especially the Lawrence Clan) had become arrogant, betrayed its principles, and abused their power to crush the freedom of people. The temple was converted into a fighting Arena, much was destroyed (including the original library), and Natlan’s refuggees (Vennessa’s tribe) was turned into slaves and gladiators. Venti helped fix that and, after realizing that full freedom could backfire, established the Knights of Favonius and the Four Winds, with Venessa as part of both groups.

Dvalin: It is unclear when exactly Dvalin and Barbatos met, but the poet in Breeze Amidst the Forest (implied to be Venti himself) says it occurred in "ancient times, when the gods walked among us in their prime." This puts their meeting somewhere between Barbatos' ascension 2600 years ago, and his departure from Mondstadt between 2000 and 1000 years ago. Venti helped people realize that the dragon didn’t pose any danger, and raised Dvalin, teaching him to speak the human tongue. It’s very possible that Dvalin is a reincarnated Anemo Dragon Sovereign, and that Venti entrusted the Anemo Authority to him. 500 ago, during the cataclysm, Venti and Dvalin fought against Durin’s attack, Venti had to go into slumber and Dvalin got poisoned. Mondstadt’s Prologue was all about about helping save Dvalin from Abyssal corruption and show to the people of the present that he is still a good dragon.

Mondstadt and witches: The witches deserve their own post, but it’s really interesting how they have such strong ties to Mondstadt, with two witches even taking residence there temporarily (Rhinedottir somewhat, and Alice). The second Windblume Event took us to the floating island where the witches used to reunite over tea, and for the first time told us about the members of the Hezenxirkel. It also told us of how they at some point challenged the Anemo Archon, for unknown reasons, but he befriended them instead. Interesting detail: In the cutscene about the witches, there is a moment that display’s Istaroth’s star, the same that is the symbol of Khaenri’ah - I have a post about Istaroth and that symbol almost ready too, so I won’t elaborate here, so points for another connection between witches-khaenri’ah-istaroth-venti. The Imaginarium Theater, a domain from the witches outside of space and time, also has a portal in Mondstadt. Oh, and the summer events are always connected to Mondstadt AND the witches.

Mondstadt and Wine: I already have a whole section about that, but it’s definitely no coincidence. It connects to witches, it connects to the Abyss, it connects to seelies (Angel’s Share), it connects to so many things… please go read my section if you haven’t.

Abyss: The portal is located in Musk Reef - one of the areas terraformed by Venti after he ascended, that was previously he tip of the tallest snowy mountain, known as Pilos Peak. Currently, the island looks suspiciously like multiple moons overlapping (that symbol that everyone went crazy over after the recent web event, despite being present in the game for a while). Its structure is divided into the "Abyss Corridor," which connects worlds (Teyvat was disconnected from other worlds, or at least that’s what the Legend of the Shattered Halberd book implies), and the "Abyssal Moon Spire," which leads to the unknown (possibly the same spire created by the Seelie Ancestor). In each level, we collect stars.

Flowers: Some of the flowers prominent or exclusive to Mondstadt have very interesting meanings. I already went over Cecilias, so go read that section because it’s huge; Dandelions represent wishes that are carried over to the Anemo Archon when blown, but their seeds can also represent the souls and stories of people, which in a way is almost intercheangeable given how the wishing screen kinda grants us the souls of campanions; Windwheel Asters represent stars, also very relevant for Genshin given the constellation system; Lampgrass only glow at night, so they are part of the series of flowers that change with the moon; Roses don’t seemingly exist in Mondstadt, yet two characters (Lisa and Noelle, and Rosaria has thorns in her attacks) wear them, and associated with secrets in Monds (see Noelle Hangout), and are in the cover of a big chunk of fairytales.

Gateway to Celestia (thanks to 4clover31 on tumblr for the reminder): The base of Venti's massive statue in Mondstadt has inscribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia" - people have translated and figured that out from the very beginning of the game.

Eyes of Storm, Istaroth and the Nameless Island: Idk where I'm going with this but it's interesting how, although Eyes of Storm are primarily featured in Mondstadt, the Statue of the Omnipresent God in Inazuma that many people theorize to be a depiction of Istaroth has a necklace shaped like an Eye of Storm. See this image edited by CatWithBlueHat. The quests where we first learned about Istaroth/The Thousand Winds of Time also included Eyes of Storm. (thank you to 4clover31 on tumblr for reminding me of this)

Windmills with 6 wings: This is barely important, but it's also mentioned in Kaeya's quest so I can't just ignore xD Straight out pointed explicitly. Windmills irl tend to have 4 wings (not always), but in Mondstadt, they have 6, matching the number of wings that special beings in Teyvat typically have.

The important citizens of Mondstadt: There’s just so many that I have to break this in parts, but I really don’t like it when people dismiss Mondstadt, because everything there was a well-done setup to future content:

Kaeya is one of the few Khaenri’ah survivors, and from the Alberich dynasty no less, who not only took control of Khaenri’ah after King Irmin felt “indisposed”, but also was important far before that, being possibly one of the oldest lineages of Khaenri’ah;

Diluc is strongly connected with the Fatui, that he opposes, and with a secret organization that is probably the Hexenzirkel, judging by the cups in his mansion, Angel’s share and several other hints;

Jean is a descendant of Old Mondstadt, more specifically, of the original Gunnhildr who through her wishes attracted wisp Venti, and she is alsoboth the Dandelion Knight and the Lionfang Knight;

Rosaria has lived with bandits since childhood, was found by Varka and put in the church, and she isn’t a very faithful nun. More importantly, some people suspect she is originally from Nod-Krai - she is canonically from a mountain village and the bandit gang has endured freezing cold.

Albedo is an homunculus created by Rhinedottir, a witch, through Khemia, that he also practices, and he is technically Durin’s brother and adopted into Klee’s family;

Klee is Alice’s daughter and might very well become a super strong witch herself, and she also inherited Alice’s book;

Mona is Barbeloth’s apprentice and therefore can read fates, and another powerful witch;

Lisa is another powerful witch who was invited to be part of the Hexenzirkel (she declined), who also knows many truths and secrets;

Eula is a member of the aristocracy who goes against her family, and was taught by Amber’s grandfather;

Amber has a grandfather from Liyue, who dissapeared;

Fischl/Amy cosplays book Princess Fischl, who likely represents Istaroth and is from books written by the suspicious Mr.Nine, the author whose codename is A., so probably by Alice;

Razor has ties to Sumeru family, and his story introduced us to Boreas/Andrius;

Bennet was likely found in the Mare Jivari, a destroyed region in Natlan where wind doesn’t blow, and his bad luck is probably an extension of the curse that people from Natlan had before the Archon Quest, that prevented them from leaving the region because of Leyline issues;

Diona was one of the first characters we saw that displayed atavism (regressive animal traits), along with her whole family, and she also introduced us to the concept of fairy oceanids, and their connections with wine.

Sucrose is another character with atavism, likely a fox, and foxes are important on their own even with fairytale connections like the tale of the dandelion sea. She is another alchemist.

Noelle is very unsuspicious, but it’s interesting that she wears roses, and the fact that those flowers mean secrets in Mondstadt was even highlighted in her Hangout quest;

Mika and Barbara don’t seem to have anything weird going on.

Varka is out in an expedition with most of the Knights of Mondstadt, and will definitely be an important character too;

Dahlia got his own post: between dragon connections, and the potential to be the nameless bard reincarnated (or even have parts of Decarabian!)... yeah. [Here]

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That's it. My goal was to write the most extensive and in-dept post about Venti possible - you guys tell me if I succeeded and if this makes sense xD

I think I did, because reddit told me this

I have more lore posts on the way, so follow me for those if you want ^^ Meanwhile, I also made an aggregator post on reddit and posted this on AO3 (yes, in the middle of my venti-centric fic xD).

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Log of changes and when they happen - so you can catch up to what you lost after each of my updates:

[24/04/2025]:

I added some notes thanks to the reminders of several people:

a new section called "Compiling abyss connections" (go read that one above)

2 mondstadt bullet points

2 paragraphs to the illusions section

a paragraph and a new note in the timelines and slumbers section

a new paragraph in the apple section

In case you already read the post before, you can just check the new parts in the following pics (first full pic and highlighted parts in the others)

[11/07/2025]

No new sections, but the previous section about the Gnosis was repurposed to have more stuff. Here is a list of what I changed:

The section about Gnosis is now called Symbols, and talks about the Queen Gnosis, Mondstadt's vision case, and the UI icon for events with the compass/morning star/rosa dei venti

An analysis of the shape of the vision was added to the relevant parts discussing Venti's appearance

In the section about Mondstadt, I added a minor note about how windmills have 6 wings

In the section about apples, I reinforce why golden apples are important by showing how we got one in the Amphoreus arc from HSR

Dahlia is not even described in this post anymore, I instead link to a post entirely about him since I've been able to study him more since his release xD

Here are the changes in screenshots: 

[anilyan]

I updated this again! You can now see a log of what is added when at the end ^^ So you don't have to waste time searching

[anilyan]

Hey so i just saw your venti is phanes theory and the mention of phanes heaving wings and a crown immediately made my think of the mondstadt vision wich also has wings and a crownat.At least that's how it looks to me,I'm not sure if its relevant but it sure is interesting isn't it?Also here's a picture to help see what i mean.

That... is such a good point, wtf

I have collected more things to add to my theory meanwhile, especially now with Istaroth's reveal, but this one is perfect too

[anilyan]

Dahlia is the Nameless Bard reincarnated

My theory is growing... I think Venti got his friend back xD

Just screenshots of my tweets because I'm lazy. Disregard the birthdate tho, apparently in leaks characters always have that date until close to release.

General info:

We can obviously see that he and Venti are close, and very similar in personality and behavior. His leaked party animation even shows Dahlia winking like Venti always does, and that is also associated with having secrets

He holds the book Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds. That might not mean much since that is basically a book about Barbatos, and he is the Herald... but I have for a long time thought that the unascended version of the book had a picture of the Nameless Bard instead, and called it the Nameless Bard book (people just wouldn't be able to distinguish it from Barbatos through appearance alone). Even seems to have a scarf like the bard, so above I include an old paintover I did about a year ago.

The lines from that book also sound a lot as if they were written by someone who expected to die - which might still apply to Barbatos. I'm not saying that the book was written by the bard - after all, it also mentions the oppression from the Aristocracy, and an Anemo Archon, which didn't exist while the bard was alive. But there are suspicious things there...

Dahlia's constellation is a symbol that is exclusively (I think) depicted in Decarabian's ruins. The closest alternative is Klee's clover.

Disregard the birthdate, we don't know that yet actually. I learned too late that leaks only update it close to the character release.

About Windblumes, the rebellion and flowers:

Other interesting stuff about Dahlia:

[anilyan]

It’s my birthday, so I’m taking the chance to spread my agenda! ^^

Do you remember what the scribe of Enkanomiya said? “The Primordial One may have been Phanes.” Wouldn’t that confusion be understandable if Phanes both was and wasn’t the Primordial One? Or rather, if was just one part of the Primordial One, aka his soul?

I will argue that Venti is Phanes, and also two things about Phanes (that are technically their own theory):

Phanes is the soul of the Primordial One, just like what Cocouik was to Ochkan

Phanes was created through the Chemical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Yes, I am coming back with a refined version of my old “Venti is Phanes” theory, after studying and organizing my thoughts and what I knew about the lore. The old post was pretty messy.

(I actually spent weeks preparing posts about other aspects of the lore, but meanwhile we got the moons web event that kinda ruined my time to shine, along with some leaked artifacts that basically confirmed much of what I was theorizing about, so I missed my opportunity and the things I was about to bring up won’t feel as special anymore. To feel a bit better, I decided to go back to my true agenda - Venti brainrot, that is. But I will still incorporate important lore parts that I studied into this post, and expand on them properly over time.)

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Section 1: What is Phanes? 2 theories:

First, let me remind you of what the book Before Sun and Moon says:

“The Primordial One may have been Phanes. It had wings and a crown, and was birthed from an egg, androgynous in nature. But for the world to be created, the egg's shell had to be broken. However, Phanes, the Primordial One, used the eggshell to separate the "universe" and the "microcosm of the world."”

The next theories about Phanes, that I will present next followed by connecting it with Venti, may be true at the same time:

» Theory 1: Phanes was born from a Chemical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Many ties between the PO and Istaroth are obvious, not just because she was very very likely a Shade, but also because she was probably the Moon-themed White Queen to the PO’s Sun-themed Red King, who joined in a Chemical Marriage. That produced the egg/pearl/wtv that birthed Phanes, necessary to the creation of the world.

Please notice that there is evidence that, at some point, Istaroth was the Ancient Seelie who married the Traveler from Afar, but that is not incompatible with the fact that she was bound to the PO first. In fact, I think that the fact that she was likely the Ancient Seelie is a crucial aspect, especially given the crown that she dropped, which in turn was probably the golden-ring artifact created by the Rhine Maidens / moons who confered power to the PO. I have posts about that on the way.

Let me explain. I will summarize what a chemical marriage is (I will eventually make a post fully dedicated to this concept, and to show in detail why all the pairs I mention from genshin fit this doomed narrative).

The chemical marriage / chemical wedding is a concept in alchemy that represents an union of opposites: male and female, sun and moon, gold and silver, sulphur and mercury, body and spirit, red King and white Queen. DON’T mistake this with actual marriages or ship stuff, btw.

It’s meant to produce a new and improved product, the Rebis (an androgynous being, sometimes called the Philosopher’s child), or according to some tales, the Philosopher's Stone. That stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver.

(I can’t help but recall that Venus/the morning star, aka Istaroth, in Chinese, is called Jīn-xīng (金星), the golden planet of the metal element - and Istaroth and her rhine maidens/moons/fates are likely responsible for the golden ring/crown mentioned in the drama Der Ring des Nibelungen.)

According to Jakob, the Seal of Chymical Marriage can be used to seal off the source of life, aka the Primordial Sea, which sounds similar to creating a world/pearl/philosopher’s stone/egg/dream bubble that floats in the sea of quanta or wtv is the logic used across Hoyoverse’s worlds. Basically, a necessary process to create the world, or perhaps reshape it and change it to be inhospitable for dragons yet hospitable for humans, essentially what the Primordial One did at the very beginning. In other words, the eggsehll was used to separate the sea, a sea of elements and souls and such that granted shapeshifting and abilities to the dragons, like a sort of hivemind that is incompatible with the individualism of humans. For more info on that, check the Men of Lithin book.

The Chemical Marriage is hinted at by Albedo, through the stages of the Magnum Opus in his Ascension - although in the game, the 2 last stages are swapped, with Rubedo coming before Citrinitas (perhaps to reinforce the goal to obtain gold) in the game.

That process also sometimes involves a dove. It’s in consideration to the 3 parts of a person, body (the king), soul (the seelie) and spirit (the dove), and in Christianity, the dove often represents the Holy Spirit. The marriage is sometimes blessed by a descending dove from starry heaven. The dove sometimes is the one that brings the ring. There are other trinities that can be associated with this.

Last but not least, here are all the pairs I could think of from Genshin that execute this, that I will elaborate in detail on a different post. They are made of a Seelie or prophetic being who shared forbidden knowledge with a King, who tried to save humanity by creating a hivemind, bringing tragedy: Traveler from Afar and Seelie (who may still be Istaroth), Decarabian and Amos, Zhongli and Guizhong, Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers, Liloupar and Ormazd, Remus and Sybilla, Ochkan and Ixlel… and potentially in the future either the Traveler with the Abyss Twin, or the Traveler with Paimon.

We can also compare Istaroth and PO to Chronus and Anake, two serpentine beings who created the egg that birthed the world. But according to some mythologies, what came from the egg was Phanes instead.

It’s technically more complicated than that, here is a list of alternate possibilities I found for his origins:

Phanes hatched from the egg of Chronos and Ananke

Phanes hatched from the cosmic/orphic egg placed in Aether (who was the personification of the bright upper sky and another son of Chronos)

Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge - check this video for more on that.

Sometimes Nyx is also involved - she is Phanes counterpart. In some tales, she is Phane’s wife, sometimes his daughter, and in others she creates an egg from which Phanes is born, so wtv. I don’t know who Nyx is (besides being likely The Night Mother from the book of the Six Pygmies), but it’s pretty clear that the Abyss half is under her responsibility in some way.

Fun facts: Sometimes Phanes is created in the form of a black bird OR in the form of wind (thanks to @daydream1437 on tumblr for pointing this out)

If you refer back to the quote from the book Before Sun and Moon…:

It doesn’t clarify if Phanes and the PO are the same entity or not, the scribe just decides to treat them as the same. I have my own explanation for it, in the next section precisely, but my answer would be “more or less”

It says that Phanes was birthed from an egg, but then proceeds to give a different purpose to the egg, or at least to the eggshell

Here is my interpretation: The PO and Istaroth created an egg/pearl with a chemical marriage, and Phanes was born from an egg. Once he broke the eggshell to be born, the eggshell was used (unclear if by the PO or Phanes) to change Teyvat, to create the world as it is now: a bubble separated from the rest of the universe by a fake sky, less hospitable for dragons, where Abyssal matter and the Primordial Sea stuff are separated from humans, etc. So technically, yeah, Phanes was involved in at least one step for creating the world, and that guaranteed step was the breaking of the eggshell.

This is not in the book, but in the Gnostic Chorus custcene, there is a black serpent tied surrounding the gnostic/genesis pearl. The pearl and an egg are sort of interchangeable, and according to mythology, Phanes is a figure that has the serpent Ananke coiled around him. So that matches up well.

» Theory 2: Phanes is the Primordial One’s soul, just like what Cocouik was to Ochkan

Och-kan, a half-human half-dragon being who hated dragons, sabotaged the plans of his father (the Sage of the Stolen Flame) by following the human Pyro Sovereign Xbalanque - and, after Xbalanque’s death, forbid people from worshiping either the Night Kingdom or even other gods. In his quest to save humans, he became a Tyrant, whose erratic behavior only got worse after excavations that led him to meet Ixlel.

Ixlel was a prophetic figure that used to lead the dragon civilization of the area in the past, who at first was an ally of Och-kan but, upon sharing secret knowledge and prophecies with him, was betrayed. She got revenge by convincing him to use his draconic nature to power his city, by putting his Soul in the Core of Chu'ulel (who later became Cocuik, freed only much later by Bona, after the Cataclysm). Even after Och-kan was overthrown by rebels, he couldn’t die because of that split between body and soul, and his now fully dragon body was used by his father to be an Abyssal conduit, until the interference of the Traveler in the present.

This story has many more details, and once again matches the concept of Chemical Marriage and prophecies that doom Kings, so you can check my post on the topic for proper details.

There are several similarities between Venti and Cocouik:

Color scheme and overall shape is the same, that was literally what everyone first thought when seeing it

In wisp form, he had 3 wings, or rather, 3 separate parts that didnt even connect to his body, they just floated behind him, sort of like the wings of the twins at the start of the game, and exactly like the 3 wings of Cocouik. And in human form, his Vision has a single wing with 3 parts.

The power that Cocouik displays against the dragon resembles the power that Venti lends to the traveler to use against Dvalin in the flying sequences. That is the power to supress the corrosive power of the Abyss - it’s what Venti uses, and it’s in the description of Cocouik’s ability too

The description of Cocouik also mentions a halo, within which the Traveler is protected form the Abyss, and halos are often associated with angels

So… if all of those things are comparable with Venti, why would the fact that Cocouik is the soul of a dragon not be?

Oh, right, there was a sus leak that broke my mind months ago and seemed completely nonsensical, but since I started cooking this theory, I can’t help but look back at it. It claimed that Venti was the guide of the Primordial One. Humm… yeah, if Venti was the soul of the PO, I could see that. Maybe he is assuming Istaroth’s role now that she is gone in supporting the PO?

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List of EVERYTHING sus and interesting about Venti

Some of the following things will correlate to the theories presented above, while others are just fun fancts that I didn’t know where to place.

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Appearance

» Wings:

I already discussed the relevancy of Venti’s angel form and how that ties with being a Seelie, and potentially cursed at first. But the wings are also relevant for another reason: Phanes is described has having wings.

But there is more:

Both in his fake Vision and in wisp form, he only has wings on one side of his body. Just like Cocouik. Possibly hinting at an incomplete nature, or at a duality of natures (dragon and seelie, or the others I already considered)

The wisp wing is formed sort of by 3 wings/parts, and the same is sort of true for the wing in his Vision. The number 3 might just be a coincidence, but it would also fit well with the connections between a chemical marriage and the involvement of the dove, with that third presence representing how a person has 3 parts, body, soul, and spirit. And I already argued why I think Phanes is the PO’s soul.

It’s also possible that this connects with the idea that angels supposedly have 6 wings. So by just having 3 or 3 parts, that is **half of that, aka half angel/**seelie

Funnily enough, in Archon Form he has a wing at each side, and I can’t fully point why that contrast given the previous 2 cases. It’s similar to what happens to Arlecchino in boss form.

Contrary to what the statues portray, the wings in Archon form don’t connect to his back, instead seemingly fusing with his cloak. In Wisp form, and Cocouik’s case, the wings also didn’t connect. That resembles the wings of the twins at the start of the game, the mechanical wings of The Sage of the Stolen Flame, and the wings of the Seelies/envoys always depicted in murals.

In Archon form, the wings have a circular metallic part further hinting at how the wings might be mechanical/not a part of the body. Besides that, the shape has 3 tips, and strongly resembles the wings of the boss Lord of Eroded Primal Fire / Gosoythoth when imitating the form of the Pyro Sovereign. Once again connecting Venti with dragons, although dragons and seelies are really just variations of the same species.

Mondstadt's vision case also has wings - specifically 6 wings / 2 wings with 3 parts (thanks to tamare1307 on tumblr for pointing this out)

» Other characteristics:

Phanes is also described as androgynous, which, yeah, Venti definitely is. Fun fact: His model literally uses parts of the medium female model. The androginity also matters in the context of a chemical marriage between a union of opposites, since Phanes is supposed to reunite the trates of both “parents”. The book Hymns of the Far North also reinforced the androgynous nature - although, just like with Before Sun and Moon, there is no clear distinction between if it refers to the PO or Phanes, which neither confirms nor denyes the theory that they are separate-but-connected, since scribes are not sure themselves if they are the same entity.

The gender-neutral appearance is not the only fusion relevant here. If he turns out to be part dragon part seelie, that is just as relevant.

One thing lacking in Venti, that Phanes has, is a crown. Not even his Archon form has one, at least, not so far. But some people point out that the base of his beret hat has a golden intricate line that could kinda be interpreted as a mini-crown. A recent leak also mentioned that he is going to be crowned (if the link goes down, I include a picture in the next section).

Another interesting point about his appearance is the fact that, in wisp form, the top of his head was shaped like an apple, with even a stem and leaf-shape on top. I will talk about the relevance of apples next.

His whole wisp form heavily resembles Cocouik, the soul of a dragon, and I already went over why that matters in one of my theories. The powers Venti lends to the traveler to shoot against Dvalin also resemble the powers of Cocouik used against Ochkan.

As a wisp, he was often refered to as an “elf”. Elf ears, in genshin and other Hoyoverse games, are often attributed to dragons, and sometimes seelies - with the male characters typically having the ears pointing upwards, and female characters point downwards. Yes, I am claiming that Klee, her mom, Nahida, Dahlia and others have connections with dragons - it’s not just based on Neuvillette.

And ofc, he has a Cecilia in his hat, and I will go over the relevance of that on a later section.

Mondstadt's vision has a crown. Specifically, a 5 tips crown, with the central tip being bigger, which would tie greatly with the PO and the 4 Shades (thanks to @tamara1307 on tumblr for pointing this out)

(Thanks to @daydream1437 on tumblr for sharing these images and reminding me): The Primordial One is often associated with Khaslana characters in the Honkai universe, and some of the draconic-modern elements associated with Venti strongly fit design elements especially from Phainon-variants, from Honkai Star Rail. Pahinon also displays often the dawnstar/Khaenriah star associated with Istaroth, and has one art where he literally is surrounded by 4 of those stars where one of them has different colors, just like the PO has 4 Shades and where one of them was a little special (as seen in the book Before Sun and Moon). Many people think Phainon is an equivalent of the Primordial One… and let’s be real, the similarities with the names of Phanes and Paimon and other important characters don’t help. Oh, he also gains elf ears in his alt form.

» Thematic parallels that invoke strong imagery:

Nibelung/Durin (a massive dark dragon that was corrupted) was defeated by the Primordial One/Venti (winged androgynous being)

The Primordial One has 4 Shades, and Venti established the 4 Winds

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Titles and names (official and leaked)

Fun fact: Voicelines from Archons say “About Venti” instead of “About Barbatos”, although all other gods are refered to with their god name. There are exceptions in the patterns of speaking about the topic from the archons: Furina is an obvious exception, Nahida never met the other archons, etc... Still, when mentioned, he is never called Barbatos. Even Neuvilette calls him Anemo Archon. I explore this more in the section about fake identities.

Venti: It means winds in Italian, but it’s also based on a Honkai character, Wendy, who looks a lot like our Venti. I believe in some languages is even pronounced the same way, although I might be wrong.

Barbatos: His Archon title is taken from real life mythos: He is the 8th spirit named among the list of 72 demons in The Lesser Key of Solomon, while in the Grand Grimoire, Barbatos is named as the sixth of the eighteen spirits who serve the seven superior spirits. He reveals hidden treasures (a very seelie/angel trait), can understand animals (also semi-implied in canon), and when summoned he appears with 4 noble kings (4 shades, anyone? Yeah this one is probably reaching… although Venti established the 4 Winds).

Carmen Dei: It means Song/Spell of God in Latin. Besides the obvious connections with him being a god and a bard, it ties very well with his search for the Source Song- that I elaborate on in the same section where I talk about him knowing songs of the past, present and future.

God of Song: No need for explanation, it’s the same thing as above.

God of Freedom: No need for explanation, he obviously values that a lot and makes sure to give it to Mondstadt.

God of Breeze and Hope: Now this one is interesting, at least the part about “Hope”, since in genshin, hope and light often represent the same things, and Phanes was a deity of Light. To quote Mavuika: “Many insects have a compulsion to follow the light, and humans are the same — except we call that light, 'hope.’” Hope is often associated with materials capable of influencing fate, like primogems and Genesis Crystals (”Formed from within nothingness out of pure potential and hope, it contains enough energy to create a newborn star”), and feather-shaped objects like the Obsidian feathers or the Dust of Enlightment (that… literally has a Cecilia, or so it seems).

Most popular bard in Mondstadt: Self-explanatory.

Windborne Bard: It means Bard born from the wind, which is self-explanatory considering that he is a thread of the Thousand Winds.

The sentinel that holds the key: That is a new title/description given to him in the Lunar Arcanum V: The Hierophant, that fits very well with other mentions to keys that can be connected with Venti, like in the section about Cecilias, or even potential methods to unlock the giant Venti Statue (Gateway to Celestia). This card also stated that Venti is “Powerless to speak of the mysteries of heaven”

Guide of the Primordial One: …I will never find the leak mentioning that again, will I? I swear there was one. I didn’t care about it in the slightest back then because I still hadn’t come up with this theory.

Vague mention of him being “Crowned”: At least I have the source for this leak xD It’s not a title, but certainly indicates (if true) that he will have titles related to that kind of role.

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Symbols

(the cecilia got its own section, just like the apple)

» Queen Gnosis

Arguably the most important piece in chess, not counting the King and its limitations, and it’s also the piece that Venti had (maybe still has, depending if the theory that he gave away a false Gnosis to Signora is correct or not)

Funnily enough, some connect the chess queen's fluid movement to the moon’s shifting cycles, and queens were often linked to fertility and cosmic balance, just like moons were.

It might also be a hint to him currently representing Istaroth’s role in her absence.

» Mondstadt's Vision

Thanks to tamara1307 for this: Mondstadt's vision case literally has wings and a crown, matching the description of Phanes.

And not just any wings or any crown:

the wings have 6 parts, each side with 3, and I have already mentioned how recurring that is in genshin

the crown has 5 tips, the central one bigger than the others, with 2 different pairs of tips. That matches the PO and the 4 shades, and also the dualities of life/death, time/space.

» Rosa dei Venti / Dawnstar

Recently, people clocked that the icons always present in the UI represent the 4 shades:

Shade of Time is the "compass" of the events (I will explain)

Shade of Death is the homa symbol that is so important in genshin, and now we literally know that Ronova has wings like that

Shade of Space is the Sustainer, who shows up in the game by those sta/diamonds precisely, and screen takes us to space to wish for characters

Shade of Life is probably the character icon

Why is the Compass associated with Istaroth? It's not the compass, but rather the 8-point star. It's not just the symbol of Khaenri'ah, but the symbol of the morning/dawn star, and Istaroth is heavily, heavily inspired by goddesses in mythology that represent the morning star, like Ishtar (I will elaborate in my post about Istaroth). I actually have a whole post prepared about this, but believe me when I swear that it's the symbol of Istaroth.

Thing is that, when that symbol is in a compass, it can be called Rosa dei Venti.

... Idk who picked the name Venti, but it's kinda ridiculous in hindsight.

I also wouldn't be surprised if this all tied back to Phanes/Venti being the guide of the Primordial One, like in those sus leaks I mentioned. Thus, the compass.

Last but not least, this symbol, the dawnstar, is associated with Lucifer, the Devil in Christianity, the most beautiful angel who fell after he started rebellion against God. Who shares a lot of similarities with… Phanes. Both are also strongly associated with snakes as well, or in the case of genshin, dragons.

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Cecilias

The only characters in the game connected with Cecilias are: Venti, Istaroth (we see that in Ei’s second story quest), and Albedo (a prototype primordial human, who uses Cecilias as his Ascencion material too)

Cecilias were confirmed in an event, and then at the start of Natlan, to represent “the true feelings of the prodigal son”. But that information actually is as old as his announcement, way back in 2019.

In his official dish, it’s said that the only difference with the traditional version is the inclusion of the Cecilia, and yet it adds: “But if you taste it carefully, you can taste the flavor of a wind that brings hope and tiny twists of fate.“

There seems to be a Cecilia in the Dust of Enlightment feather/material, that allows us to reroll artifacts or, in other words, rewrite fate.

An inactive user in this post found that the name Cecilia possibly came from a Latin word meaning "blind", and according to this source, “Cecilia is as much to say as the lily of heaven, or a way to blind men.” SexyPoro also commented that it’s a variant of the word caecus, that can mean other variations of blind, such as Devoid of light, Vague, Aimless, Invisible, Hidden, Secret, Obscure

Fun fact, Caerus, that sounds a lot like caecus, is an alternatively spelling of Kairos, another of Istaroth’s names. Kairos is a Greek god that resembles Hermes, and who needs wind to fly. Guess that might explain why she ruled Mondstadt alongside Venti for a while, like the Mondstadt saying goes, seeds of stories need to be brought by the wind before they can be cultivated by time.

The Saint Cecilia is a virgin martyr in christianity, and the patron of musicians, composers and poets.

The closest real life inspiration would be the flower trillium, which represent the Holy Trinity in Christianity, in turn correlated with the chemical marriage (remember when I mentioned the addition of the dove so that the number 3 represented body, soul and spirit? And how those 3 parts are important for parallels between Cocouik and Ochkan?)

Cecilias look a lot like triquetras, once again connected with the Holy Trinity in Christianism, while in Celtic culture it represents the triple goddesses (3 goddesses that function as a whole, like the Moirai or Norse Norns, who in turn are a bit like the Tribbies of HSR and the 3 moons/fates of genshin). Triquetras are a recurring symbol in Genshin.

Cecilias are also an important symbol in HI3:

They are the symbol of the House Schariac, known for Divine Maidens, warriors who have a chance of taking in the Holy Blood.

The Black Abyss White Flower in that game, a ‘Divine Key’ and weapon from the civilization’s Previous Era made specifically to kill herrschers, is also a Cecilia.

It’s very possible that Istaroth/Kairos turns out to be an expy of HI3’s Cecilia. She’s known for wielding the Abyss Flower.

As @daydream1437 on tumblr pointed out: They are also a key of creation, which is relevant when Phanes is a deity of Light and Creation

It ties very well with how the game recently confirmed that Venti is “The Sentinel who holds the Key”

Everything here hints at the importance of Venti’s birth and lineage. And while he might just be connected to Istaroth and things stop there, and it would be enough to justify that importance, it’s still possible that it means a little more.

The Natlan Summer Event in 2025 revealed that Venti has Time powers bestowed by Istaroth, and that opened up some possibilities regarding his involvement in past events. Namely, that many things previously attributed to Istaroth might have been done by Venti instead, especially after the revelations that 1) she is fairly indifferent and aloof, so why would she bother getting involved and helping? 2) The reveal of her appearance doesn’t include a single Cecilia.

So, now people look back at scenes where Cecilias showed up that involved messing up with time - like the cutscene in Ei’s 2nd story quest - and think that Venti was the one who allowed Makoto to enact her plan, letting Ei plant a seed in the future/present that sprouted in the past (in other words, a Loom of Fate). With how obcessed Venti is with seeds of stories, preserving the past and the truth, and considering how he probably was in Khaenri’ah at some point during the Cataclysm and consequently was with Makoto… that is at least possible.

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Venti and apples, the fruit of Fate

Here is a list of every connection between Venti and apples that I could find:

In his wisp form, the top of his head is shaped like an apple, including stem and leaf.

He is always asking for apples, even as payment. He also offers them sometimes. He also really enjoys apple cider.

While terraforming Mondstadt, he created the Golden Apple Archipelago

Speaking of golden apples, he literally offers one in one of his birthday arts, and the text that accompanies it is one of the most suspicious things ever: “It is written that there is a whole tiny world hidden inside an apple core. Here, this half is for you. Let's take a stroll in the tiny little world. But remember to keep it a secret because... you're the only one I want to bring there.” Please keep this in mind.

Mondstadt is a land full of apples. There are a few apple trees in Liyue too, and ofc thishas to do with the inspirations behind Mondstadt, so it’s a tenue connection, but still fitting.

More apple connections inside of Genshin:

Especially in anime, Apples are often depicted as the fruit of Fate (look no further than Mawaru Penguindrum), and in Inazuma, the girl giving Fortune Slips is called Gendou Ringo, with Ringo meaning ‘apple’ in Japanese.

(Thank you to u/HashtagLowElo on reddit for reminding me of this) In Lyney's teaser, when Lyney is sitting at the bard with the drunkard, Lyney took his drink and transformed it into an apple scented wine. As the man closed his eyes to drink it, Lyney transformed it into an apple before talking about the connection between miracles and magic tricks while also going on to hold the moon. So, the apple was somewhat compared to the moon.

And if you are not convinced, Amphoreus in literally just presented a golden apple as the Fruit of Time. That is obtained after playing a tune on wind chimes. Honkai Star Rail

Apples outside of Genshin/Hoyo:

In Sethian Gnosticism, in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they succumb to the serpent’s temptation and eat the forbidden fruit (often imagined as an apple) from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is depicted as a good thing, and as the first step towards freedom from Yaldabaoth (a demiurge, chaos entity and false god, who keeps the souls of people trapped in physical bodies).

The Golden Apple is specifically relevant in mythology. For example, in Greek Mythology, the Golden Apple of Discord was thrown by Eris at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, leading to the Judgement of Paris and the Trojan War. In the Garden of the Hesperides, golden apples were guarded by a dragon and were part of Hercules' labors. In Irish Mythology, golden apples are depicted on the Silver Branch of the Otherworld.

...I can’t help but wonder if the connection with apples means that he has secret knowledge and awareness of fates and the future, and is waiting for someone else to learn it too, to assume control of Fate or to break free.

If he derived from the PO, that would also make him sort of serpent/dragon-like, or at least part dragon part seelie/angel. He is probably holding fate in his hands - and if an apple contains a tiny world, according to what he said, holding it is not too different from holding the Genesis Pearl - once again tying him with the Gnostic Chorus.

The fact that Venti has only offered one half of the apple in his birthday art may connect with the fact that Phanes only rules half of the world, while the other half, potentially the Abyss, belongs to Nix, the Night Mother. It may alternatively connect to the idea of Chemical Marriage and union of opposites, since that seems to be a fundamental pattern in Teyvat, as I already mentioned.

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“When I first arrived here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste”

During the Mondstadt Archon quest, Venti says that "When I first arrived here, I too was like Dvalin, cursed and left to waste".

Here are some guesses of mine that could explain that:

We know that his Archon form presents him as an angel (source: manga, official arts, and in-game arts and statues) and that angels are seelies (thanks to Natlan’s Archon quest). We also know that the Seelies and Moon kingdom fell, probably symbolizing the end of the Unified Civilization, as a consequence of the marriage between a Seelie and a Traveler from afar, who in turn was likely the Second Who Came, who waged war more a less at the same time as Nibelung and his War of Vengeance. Refer to my (future) other theories for more details. What matters here is that, after that event, the Seelies were cursed to lose their minds and original form, thus why they present as we currently see them in-game. And if angels were seelies, that was probably Venti’s fate too, thus why he showed up as a wisp to the bard.

Since he is comparing himself with Dvalin, maybe his curse was instead related with abyssal corruption. We don’t know what happened to the Primordial One who is currently afk, but if Venti was his soul, and considering that Nibelung used forbidden knowledge and maybe even abyssal energy (unsure of how much those two things overlap), perhaps Nibelung tainted the PO in the confrontation.

Alternatively, maybe he was cursed at existence, which could also explain how he somehow got involved with the bard and the rebellion in Mondstadt and possibly didn't have a strong identity before that? If he was derived from the primordial one, and the PO was the Usurper who took the power away from the original dragons, I don’t think it would be unheard of in stories for the off-spring of authority figures to be cursed by those who hated them.

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Knowledge of secret information, and songs of the past, present and future

» About General types of knowledge:

He is the one narrating the Gnostic Chorus cutscene, so he knows about the origins of Teyvat and other important stuff.

He ruled Mondstadt for a long time alongside Istaroth (the Thousand Winds temple was used to worship both of them), so she might have shared relevant knowledge with him from the period of the Unified Civilization, and even from before that.

He knows of others worlds, and titans: "In other, distant worlds…Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and seas…the gods sacrificed Purusha and cut his body to pieces, and then fashioned all living beings with those parts…the brain of the giant Ymir became clouds. Their sacrifices seeded life in the unliving cosmos. These songs sing of the primeval ones."

In fact, he tells the Traveler about that in the manga prologue, and I don't think none of the things there were discarded - in fact, judging by the element of the traveler (Pyro) in this scene, I and some people speculated for a while that we would return to Mondstadt after Natlan.

» About music - I have a whole post on the importance of music for Teyvat incoming:

He claims to know all songs of the past, present and future, which even denotes knowledge that transcends time, fitting for the son of Istaroth, the Thousand Winds of Time - and also for a Seelie/Angel, which we know he is given his Archon form, who were always prophets.

Istaroth is heavily connected to the moons, who controlled the Fates - past, present, and future - and who were named after song and poetry: Aria, Sonnet, and Canon. The loading screen song, that is the theme of Genshin, is even called Dream Aria. Dream Aria might very well be the Sourcesong that I’m going to elaborate on soon.

Seelies/angels are in turn connected to the moons, and they are at least from the period of the Unified Civilization. They, just like possibly the dragons who originally inhabited Teyvat, know well the value of song. That once again matches with Venti, in part because of his angel archon form, and in part because of how he values song as a way to preserve the truth.

People theorize that Venti is trying to find the Sourcesong, or even knows it already, thus why he knows songs from past, present, and future. According to the Aranara, all songs in the world derive from the Sourcesong, that can diverge into different memories, just like a river diverges into creeks, yet just like creeks eventually flow into the sea, the songs converse.

In other words, that definition might hint at the creation of a hivemind and fusing the souls of the people into a collective conscience, similar to what some God-Kings ended up doing in their attempts at saving humanity and controlling Fate, with Remus being the most relevant since he used the Symphony of Fate to weave the threads, and fates, as if they were strings of an intrument. They only attempted those feats after meeting with Seelies. [Check my future post about Chemical Marriage to see an exhaustive list of all cases of that in genshin]

Venti also canonically states he can read the the rhythmic flow of energy dispersed by the Abyss Order and copy its magic with his lyre - that was how he took down the barriers during the Archon Quest.

His constellation is called Carmen Day, "God of Songs", although in practice that's the title he is less refered as. As 4clover31 on tumblr added: "Carmen also means God's Vineyard, plus, the term Carme or Carmen was used by Romans to reference a poem with a ritual and propitiatory tone."

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Venti’s strength

Funnily enough, I don’t find this point relevant for my theory, because even if he turns out to be the weakest Archon currently, there can be many explanations for that, and that is not indicative of his original strength. So it’s possible that he was extremelly powerful and still the soul/son of the PO, while being weak now.

But here is a list of what the fandom usually points out, and the different sides of the argument:

Venti is currently weak:

That’s what he claims, justifying it by saying that the strength of an Archon depends on how much faith the people of the Nation have in their Archon. Since he doesn’t actively rule Mondstadt, and people are free from his influence, he sort of implies that they don’t believe in his enough and that he his willing to let his powers pay the price for his ideals

He hasn’t showcased particularly strong powers even when Mondstadt was in crisis, or when trying to stop Signora from taking away the Gnosis.

We also know he has been gone for a long time, returning to Mondstadt during the Stormterror crisis, so it’s possible that he hasn’t regained his powers.

Maybe he was strong when returning to Mondstadt at present, but he delivered the Anemo Authority to Dvalin by the end of the Archon quest, so even if he lied initially, he is actually weaker now.

Venti is currently strong:

People who defend this argue by using Venti’s own definition of what grants power to an Archon, basically by pointing out how, in some ways, he is more worshipped than many other Archons, even if he doesn’t use that to rule the people. He has a Church, people in Mondstadt clearly pray to Barbatos and mention him often, and they completely adhere and live according to his ideals

As such, there is no reason for him to have lost the powers he once presented, like when he terraformed the land of Mondstadt and also completely changed its weather (after Old Mondstadt got rid of Decarabian, since at the time Mondatadt was covered in snow)

Consequently, Venti simply pretended to be weak out of respect for the autonomy and independence of the humans

Some people who believe this think he was just pretending until the Gnosis was taken, while others think he handed out a fake Gnosis and didn’t even try to resist Signora, and there is even people who think he lost the Gnosis but that hasn’t affected his powers

One thing that got confirmed in the 2025 summer event is that he has powers over time bestowed by Istaroth, in fact, a fragment of her authority, and that he used them to blow the Mare Jivari off the timeline. So it’s certain that he has lots of powers that he never shared, although they might come with caveats - like the sumbers I talk about in another section.

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Sacramental Wine, Dionysus and Phanes

Some myths say that Phanes was Dionysus (god of wine… amongst other things), or Eros (god of love, yes I’m simplifying), and oh boy isn’t Venti the god of all of that too? Although this is complicated since it has to do with gods being iterations of past gods and such.

Okay, this gets less obvious now. Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge.

Let’s keep talking about wine. I have to start by recommending this video by Ashikai that I used for a lot of the info that follows.

Sacramental Wine is consumed after sacramental bread, in celebration of the Eucharist. The Catholic Church maintains that by the consecration, the substances of the bread and wine actually become the substances of the body and blood of Christ, and in genshin, a similar process happens when a being consumes the body/blood of gods - sometimes even inheriting powers and an extended lifespan, although corruption as well.

The different types of liquids/elixirs in genshin can even be compared to real life ones: leyline liquid is nectar, primordial seawater is absinthe, and forbidden knowledge is wine. Refer to Ashikai’s video for explanations on the first two, but regarding wine, in the book A Drunkard’s Tale, a character says: “What you humans call wine, we wolves call the abyss”. I already shared how many things connected to Venti relate to the Abyss, from Cecilias to the origins of Phanes.

Fungi (more specifically, yeast) are required to make wine, for the processes of fermentation, and you can see in the list of game examples below how much fungi are relevant in the process of eucharistic rites and how often they are sacramental, as a way to grant powers or memories. Mushrooms in a circle also form the so-called fairy-rings, and besides the importance of rings in the context of genshin as objects that confer power to god-kings, they are also considered a portal. They are also called witch’s rings.

» Mondstadt and wine

Mondstadt is heavily known for its wines, and not just for the production of it. During the distiling process, the portion of alcohol that evaporates is even callled Angel’s Share, the name of Diluc’s tavern. Angels, or seelies, in turn tend to have alcoholic beverages associated with them (really, watch Ashikai’s video for more evidence).

Wine breewing is also heavily connected to witches, who have strong connections with Mondstadt. The witches are also connected to Venti, as revealed in the second Windblume Festival.

Speaking of witches, I already mentioned how witches’ rings or fairy rings are made of mushrooms and considered portals.

Albedo is a famous alchemist created by the witch Rhinedottir. Alcohol is one of the possible solvents used in alchemy, known as alkahest. In Lulian alchemy, quintessence is a solvent distilled from wine, sometimes called aether. Alkahest is the ascension material used for the sword Cinnabar Spindle, and cinnabar in turn refers to the Rubedo stage of the Magnum Opus. That’s typically the final stage, although genshin swaps it, with citrinitas/gold, but usually the Magnum Opus ties with the Chemical Marriage - you know, the thing I said that created Phanes.

Oceanids are often associated with turning water into Wine. The weapon Dialogues of the Desert Sages supports that idea. The oceanid of Springvale, also sometimes called a fairy, blessed/cursed Diona to always make great alcoholic beverages. Oceanids also strongly resemble Hydro Idolons, and Idolons are the kind of ghost most associated with Istaroth, even being one of the names for the Sin Shades from Enkanomiya.

In the Alchemy Ascension event, conveniently said by Venti while standing with Diona, he says “If alchemy has the power to transform matter… I wonder if it could also be used to turn water into wine?”

Kaeya’s Skewers are soaked in Death after Noon, Kaeya’s favorite drink, and if you check the list of examples, you can see that the medicine for Caribert required drawing water in the early AfterNoon, and it was used to water the mushrooms growing on the body of Caribert’s dead mom. The drink is also made with absinthe. The drink, or Kaeya’s skewers, are also mentioned in many sus quests, like Canotila quest about dissolving people and their memories, and in a dialogue with Xamaran.

» Examples of sacramental food/wine in genshin

The desert is full of such examples, from Apep who got to eat King Deshret after his death to gain his knowledge, to the Consecrated Beasts (”consecreated” even means “blessed”.

Jacob in Fontaine also turned into a Iniquitous Baptist abyssal creature after consuming the flesh of a dragon, and it’s possible that other abyss creatures - not hillichurls - went through a similar process, especially considering how all of them have a type named after religious positions (even mages, since the word comes from “Magi” who was a Zoroastrian priest).

Rukkhashava mushrooms, in CN, are called Rukkhadevata Sacramental Mushrooms. Before the description change, it said that the Akademia Sages consumed them to honor the sacrifice of the goddess, and remember her wisdom, like in a Eucharistic ritual. This mushroom is based on the Reishi mushroom (believed to give immortality in Taoism). Wanderer, who tried to ascend to godhood, and Collei who contains remnants of a snake god, need this as an ascension material.

In the first Caribert quest, we see a red/cinnabar version of these mushrooms. They grew in the body of Clothar’s dead wife, and while mushrooms grow on wood, Norse mythology believes that humans were carved from trees. He also had to draw water in the early afternoon (Death After Noon is the name of Kaeya’s favorite drink) to tend to them, and for the medicine. The medicine for Caribert created from those mushrooms had to be blessed by a god, and it followed a similar recipe to the Memory Recipe taught by the Aranara: a Rukkhashava mushroom variation, a lotus (Kalpalata/Barsam), and a purple flower (Sumeru rose/Yajna grass). It’s a sacramental beverage.

Fun fact, the taxonomic name for the Reishi mushroom is ganoderma, and there are mushroom-like aquatic ascension materials called Sea Ganoderma in genshin. Their description says “In the folktales told in a certain land, these mouthless, noseless creatures are the transformed souls of children who died young.” They are used by Yae Miko (guards a Irminsul tree) and Kazuha (ganoderma really like mapple trees)

Xamaran, the giant mushroom in the Chasm, is often taken as the irminsul tree of the area (it even looks like a dragon tree), or instead as a mushroom growing in the body of the main Irminsul (like how mushrooms grow on trees). The name sounds like Shahmaran, a mythological being from Persian mythology who was half human half snake, and the name can be broken into "queen/king of serpents" - and serpents in genshin are somewhat interchangeable with dragons. There are tales both about the queen and the king. What matters is that in the Queen's tale, her flesh leads to recovery, her broth leads to knowledge, and her extract leads to death.

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Illusions, fake identities and lots of pretending

Voicelines from Archons say “About Venti” instead of “About Barbatos”, although all other gods are refered to with their god name. There are exceptions in the patterns of speaking about the topic from the archons, for example Furina is an obvious exception, Nahida never met the other archons, etc... Still, when mentioned, he is never called Barbatos. Even Neuvilette calls him Anemo Archon.

Even in the Archon quest, in the same conversation where he tells us about allogenes and Gnosis after the confrontation with Signora, Paimon says that the “Tone-Deaf Bard is just one of the many Barbatos incarnations” - I wonder if the CN text says this as well...

He doesn't currently use Barbatos' Lyre. Now, that might just be because he is pretending to not be Barbatos, and consequently he couldn't just demand it from the church, as we have seen to an extent in the Prologue. But there might be more to it, since he could have just opted to take that lyre with him or hid it somewhere else before going into slumber, instead of delivering it to the church. So what if that is not his lyre (it could be from the Nameless Bard, or from Istaroth), or what if it is the Lyre of Barbatos but he is just a fragment of Barbatos?

Celestia also doesn't seem to like him (Voiceline Mora about Venti - IV). Could it be because he refuses to take the throne? Because it just doesn't approve of his behavior and attitude? Or maybe because he isn't fully Barbatos? And yet, his bigger statue in Mondstadt has incribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia"...

He has shown his illusion abilities by faking the repair of the Lyre right before Signora showed up to steal his Gnosis, which makes some people believe that the Gnosis he gave away was fake.

Winking. He is always winking. In most official arts, and very often in-game too. Why would that be relevant? Because eyes, especially having eyes covered/closed, are very significant in genshin and hint at the ability to perceive the truth instead of the illusion/dream created by the Irminsul. Check my future post about patterns in the Hoyoverse for more info - I will try to list every example there, from Kaeya’s legacy, to fictional Fischl, God-Kings and their artifact sets, and ofc Irmin. He might not be immune to the Irminsul changes, but he certainly tries to combat that with stories.

Adressing the elephant in the room, people don’t seem to notice that he looks exactly like the giant statue. Or maybe they do, and they attribute it a genius marketing idea to grow popularity as a bard >.< But considering how Ineffa matched Columbina’s appearance to her statues at a first glance, if she ever goes to Mondstadt, i very much expected her to clock Venti just as easily - otherwise, there is something weird going on. You knows, besides the fact that the statue has at the bottom a “Gateway to Celestia” inscription.

(both mods are made by me/Anilyan, [here] and [here])

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Confused timelines, slumbers and dreams

I don’t think there are many instances of this, but there are a few examples that fans point of Venti possibly confusing timelines - either because the wind is free from the confines of time, or because of Venti’s connections with Istaroth and even poential prophetic abilities.

One is during Mondstadt’s AQ, when he tells the Traveler to meet at the “usual place” when we have never met him there before.

Another is a voiceover hidden in a menu, where he greets the Traveler with “Ah, Traveler, we meet again! What? You don't remember me? Ahaha, well, allow me to join you on your quest once again.”

He had to dissapear and go into slumber multiple times, usually after seemingly using a lot of his power: some time after establishing new Mondstadt and making sure that the humans got it (we see him waking up in the manga and realizing how corrupt the aristocracy had become), some time after helping Vennessa win and form the Knights and still taking some time to raise Dvalin, and after the fight against Durin. People theorize it’s only after moments where he spends lots of power, but since we don’t know the exact circumstances that made him go to slumber for the first 2 examples, it’s hard to say.

That theory gains grounds when we recently - in 2025 summer event - got a glimpse of the kinds of powers that he used before one of his slumbers. During the Cataclysm, to prevent the corruption of the Mare Jivari to spread towards other places, Venti used the authority over time that Istaroth shared with him to cut that location off the timeline.

This was around the same time when he also dealt with Durin, and it’s possible that he was in Khaenri’ah around that period too, since it’s implied most gods were called there - and even that he might have been the one who helped Makoto enact her plan before dying, since a certain cutscene in Ei’s 2nd story quest shows Cecilias, and we know now after the reveal of the Shades that Istaroth herself doesn’t have many clear associations with those flowers. So he somehow managed to be in all of those places around the same time, and probably used too much of his power, falling into slumber after that.

The Natlan summer event also got him to confirm that using some of his powers can drain him a lot. After collaborating with Mavuika to free the souls that got detained in the Mare Jivari, he said: “Well, it really took it out of me for a few days... In fact, I still feel pretty dead on my feet even now.”

There was an old reddit post by u/ahellbornlady (thank you to Jolita_Bonita on ao3 for finding it for me) that even theorized that Venti met the Traveler not in some kind of past life/time that was reset - I have seen people theorize that too but it's not really what I believe - but rather in dreams, since they were both in slumber after the Cataclysm. It's even possible that the poem that Venti shares during the first Windblume event - that changes in CN depending on the gender of the Traveler, proving it's about them - was about how they met. It has some interesting verses like "Who was it that stroked your bloodied, determined visage. By stream flowing small, by boulder standing large." and "Who was it that embraced your weary yet noble soul, in dreams deep, in skies soaring." I have an upcoming post about dreams too.

He also wakes up in this location in the manga, that strongly resembles a location shown in the trailer of the anime, so people guess it will be important. The location even shares one of the symbols of Venti and Istaroth (edited pics from https://x.com/Yivvee/status/1899111907627516062/photo/2). This also looks a lot like a portal, which is interesting considering that the base of his big statue has inscribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia" (thak you to 4clover31 on tumblr for the reminder)

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Dissapearances for long periods, Death and Leylines

In the Orphic tradition, Phanes is said to be a dying and resurrecting god, killed by the Titans who devoured his flesh but rescued by Athena and resurrected by Zheus. Maybe, to which extent, we could correlate the Titans (Athena and Zeus) to the dragons, Istaroth and the Primordial One.

Venti dissapears for long periods of time, and dying and resurrecting could be a way to explain that. Especially after the recent Natlan summer event, some people have theorized that Venti is “running out of time”, potentially because using powers from Shades comes at a cost even to other Archons, like Mavuika stated when she had to use Ronova's powers to thwart Gosoythoth's abyssal invasion.

Dionysus, the god of wine - who, like I mentioned before, is often equated with Phanes - dies at the hands of the Titans, and that has been considered the central myth of Orphism. I elaborate more about Orphism, and specifically Orpheus, in a following section.

Dionysus was the patron god of the Orphics, who they connected to death and immortality, and he symbolized the one who guides the process of reincarnation. That strongly resembles Venti’s ability to help souls pass… to wtv is the place of the souls, Irminsul or something, like he did in his story quest or during Natlan’s summer event, and that is likely what allows souls to reincarnate in Teyvat as well.

Unsure how that works exactly, but Istaroth and Venti definitely have some strange connections with leylines. And since this post is about Venti and not his mom, let’s also not forget that he shines in the leyline color multiple times too. In fact, his Archon outfit has more blue than exactly green, and same for his wisp form, although that might be an extension of angels being seelies.

It’s fairly known that the artifact categories correspond to the Primordial One and the 4 Shades, and one of them is the Plume of Death. It’s usually associated with Ronova, the Shade of Death, but even so Venti is heavily associated with feathers. Even in Natlan, those who carry an ancient name have it engraved in a feather-shaped obsidian toten, in turn having connections to the Night Kingdom.

Venti is mostly associated with Cecilias, but he also has some light connections with dandelions - more specifically, Venti is the only anemo character that dandelions are drawn towards after being blown, and the parts that fly are basically seeds of dead flowers. That ties in well with their quote about “seeds of stories” (in other words, the memories of people), and their connections with leylines and souls of people who passed on. In Teyvat, souls are often refered to as flowers in metaphors (I will expand on that in a future post about symbols in the game).

Venti also has a few connections with Windwheel Asters, basically stars (and Aster is also the beginning of Astaroth, one of the inspirations behind Istaroth). And stars and constellations are in turn heavily connected to the fates of people in Teyvat.

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Time loops and creator gods:

Bear with me, we are taking a trip into the Hoyoverse:

I’ve seen some people interpret that Phainon from HSR is a parallel to Phanes, not just because of the obvious name similarity but because of his major role in the story… that also involves resetting time, cycles, and similar concepts.

In fact, many people theorize that Amphoreus shares a kind of existence similar to Teyvat, from the implications that it’s a computer simulation, to the disconnection from the rest of the universe and the fake sky, the corruptive abyss-like powers, how the trailer for the tribbies showed her in basically the login screen of genshin… and more.

Some people theorize that Phainon is the Golden Scapegoat, a symbolic representation of a figure who bears consequences, possibly for failures or mistakes in past cycles.

Some people also compare Phainon with Pangu, a figure who, like Phanes, emerged from a cosmic egg to create the universe by separating the chaotic forces of Yin and Yang. Venti mentions that figure in the manga, saying that in other worlds, Pangu gave his blood to form the rivers and the seas. That lines up well with Chinese mythology, that says that his breath turned into the wind, his blood into rivers, his left eye the sun, and his right eye the moon. He is therefore considered a creator god.

In other words, it seems that each world in the hoyoverse has its own creator god (with Venti mentioning others and Phainon and Phanes as potential candidates), and those figures often tend:

To be born from a cosmic egg

To get caught up in cycles of birth and destruction, that can be considered time loops

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Similarities to Orpheus the Bard

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a legendary bard, and the founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries.

He perfected the lyre invented by Hermes. Venti also probably perfected the lyre of the bard, and (noticed by 4clover31 on tumblr) in the Chasm there is a letter that mentions his lyre: "Not if my destructive self were made to be the lyre of Barbatos".

The suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans has been considered the central myth of Orphism - and I already mentioned before how Dionysus and wine and all of that have their own connections to Venti. There is also the fact that Phanes belongs to the Orphic myth as well, although as a different entity: Dionysus at most, but not Orpheus.

Besides the bard and lyre aspects that clearly match Venti, the fact that Orpheus was a prophet is also very fitting since, as I mentioned before, Venti knows the songs of the past/present/future, and is probably a prophet given how Seelies/Angels always are.

So I propose that Orpheus corresponds to Venti’s bard identity, that he takes to avoid assuming the role of an Archon, while Dionysus/Phanes correspond to his Barbatos aspect.

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Compiling potential time-related feats (some attributed to Istaroth)

(Most of these things were mentioned before, but I wanted to make them clearer. These are events involving Time-stuff, that necessarily involved the use of Istaroth’s powers, but not necessarily her presence)

The Natlan Summer Event in 2025 revealed that Venti has Time powers bestowed by Istaroth, and that opened up some possibilities regarding his involvement in past events. Namely, that many things previously attributed to Istaroth might have been done by Venti instead, especially after the revelations that 1) she is fairly indifferent and aloof, so why would she bother getting involved and helping? 2) The reveal of her appearance doesn’t include a single Cecilia.

So, people are now looking at things we previously attributed to Istaroth, and wondering if Venti was the one involved instead:

Cutting the Mare Jivari off the timeline: In the aforementioned summer event, he straight out tells us that: “Five hundred years ago, to prevent the corruption of the Mare Jivari from spreading beyond Tenochtzitoc, I blew it off the timeline, turning it into the "Windless Land.” This resulted in 1) some souls getting trapped there, an issue he only managed to fix now with the help of Mavuika who opened a rift to that region 2) People reaching the physical location and getting wrapped in time shenanigans that seemed to contradict the timeline of the area, until we got a proper explanation, like what happened to the Wanderer Troupe. There seems to be more than one version of the Mare Jivari - at least 2 were confirmed.

Helping Makoto with the seed that Ei plants: The cutscene in Ei’s 2nd story quest shows a Cecilia, for starters, which in the past made us all think about Istaroth, especially after the game translates “higher powers” as “Istaroth”. And her powers were definitely involved! Just, maybe wielded by Venti. In other words, maybe Venti was the one who allowed Makoto to enact her plan, letting Ei plant a seed in the future/present that sprouted in the past (in other words, a Loom of Fate), turning into the tree that protect Inazuma during the Cataclysm. With how obcessed Venti is with seeds of stories, preserving the past and the truth, and considering how he probably was in Khaenri’ah at some point during the Cataclysm and consequently was with Makoto… that is at least possible.

Helping the people of Enkanomiya: When Enkanomiya fell into the sea, the people were despairing, endangered by the vishaps and the darkness, until Aberaku was bestwed the wisdom to create the Helios. The first time we learned about the name of Istaroth, the PO, and much more, was in Enkanomiya. That, coupled with other hints, gave the impression that the Goddess of Time was the one who helped. However, now that Venti claimed that she is very indifferent, and after we’ve seen her be so aloof (although that might just be a pretense), it wouldn’t make sense for her to want to help. That made some people wonder if Venti was the one who helped instead. The OST Realm of Tokoyo also resembles the ost Hope or Nostalgia, and we know Venti is a God of Hope.

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Compiling Abyss Connections

Look, most of this section are things mentioned in others, I just wanted to point out that there is a not insignificant number of connections between Venti and the Abyss... And I also didn't know where else to include the Inverted Statue.

The Abyss Order uses an inverted Venti Statue, for their ritual in one of the Archon Quests. Could just be coincidence, but with the ritual in Liyue, it would make more sense to use a statue of Morax

One of the potential origins of mythology Phanes says he emerged from the Abyss

Venti gives us one half of the apple in that birthday art I mentioned - the other half possibly represents the Abyss

He is always drinking wine, and wine is called Abyss by the wolves

He can understand the music of Abyss creatures, even using it to dispel barriers in the prologue

The Abyss Flower and Divine Key in Honkai 3rd is a Cecilia

It's possible that he hasn't even been to Celestia, or at least seems to indicate he isn't wanted there, although that voiceline can be interpreted in many ways

I will just mention how in the recent 5.6 stream art he is mostly in the shadow - tenue connection, but still

You know the "purifying abilities" of the Traveler, that have the great side effects of healing the beings they target, that are now understood as the Traveler just absorbing the abyss taint for themselves? Venti has multiple times displayed similar purifying abilities, like when lending powers to the Traveler to fight Dvalin (again, like Cocouik), healing Xiao with his music, and maybe more that I forgot.

Check the proof/pictures for these things in sections above

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His real age, birth and timeline

Look, I want to start by addressing the elephants in the room:

Venti and Istaroth have the same voices and VAs, in all languages. So I do not believe that, when he says in the Natlan summer event, that he had a chance encounter with Istaroth, he was telling the full story. Maybe the meeting in that moment was by chance, sure, but that doesn’t undermine previous connections between them.

Thanks to Venti’s powers over time, it’s really difficult to state that “Venti did this during X period”, because… maybe he can go back in time, maybe time is not linear since Mavuika basically confirmed that time is a cube and that changing something at one point taints the rest of the truth, etc. So even if Venti interfered in some ancient event, that might already be a rewrite and not how that event originally went. I will just state facts instead of addressing that kind of thing.

Now let me attempt this:

There are strong implications that Barbatos - with that title - existed even before he became a wind wisp, or that he went back into the past to other timelines. For example, in the Chasm, we can find a letter that mentions “Barbatos” [check the translation here], dating from the time of the “Nameless Ruins” city that shares architecure with Enkanomiya (and according to Dainsleif, some similarities with Khaenri’ah too, but this city is older). We know that Enkanomiya fell as a result of the war between the Primordial One and the Second Who Came, so it’s from the time of Hyperborea. Assumming that the Nameless Ruins are just as old, that means Barbatos has existed at least since before the fall of Hyperborea.

As a Wind Wisp, Venti heard the cries of the Gunnhildr Clan who managed to flee Decarabian’s city, and were suffering under the blizzards. He gained more powers thanks to their faith, managing to help them, and later joining the rebellion against Decarabian along the Nameless Bard, the red-haired warrior, Amos, and others. I am assuming this happened before the next point, because it’s implied this is the first time he got significant powers and a wish to change the world.

As a Wind Wisp, he got powers from Istaroth, and the Thousand Winds Temple already existed: “Back then, as an Anemo spirit, I had a chance encounter with "Time" at the Thousand Winds Temple. Hearing my wishes, she entrusted me with fragments of her power and authority.”

Around ~2600 years ago, with the fall of Decarabian’s Mondstadt and his divine throne, Venti ascended to become the Anemo Archon Barbatos. Thanks to Boreas abdicating from his influence, and becoming a ghost upon realizing how his powers were harming humans, Venti took the chance to terraform the land to make it hospitable for humanity. Musk Reef (formerly Pilos Peak)[19] and the Golden Apple Archipelago[20] are examples of mountains that he terraformed. He used the four winds - at the time, literally 4 of the Thousand Winds of Time - to achieve some of those feats, using the Skyward Atlas.

Mondstadt established a new cityand customs: Venti lived amongst the Mondstadters for a while, and helped them establish a new home and traditions, like the Ludi Harpastum,Weinlesefest, and the Windblume Festival. He also helped the gliders - designed by Leonard from Musk Reef - work, and the powers of Barbatos are still required. The Lawrence Clan led the building of the giant Barbatos’ statue, and the clans swore to forever protect freedom.

After the Archon War ended, around 2000 years ago, Venti wandered and interacted with other Archons, in particular Rex Lapis and the Adepti. He contributed by establishing meetings between the Archons, and helped even people who weren’t from Mondstadt, like relieving Xiao from his karmic debt at certain points. He tried to use music to heal the world’s wounds, and raised a baby Dvalin.

It’s unclear for how long Venti lived amongst the people, or how early did he felt the need to fall into slumber after using those powers. It’s also unclear how many slumbers he was in between this period and the time he woke up during the aristocratic period - but it has been long enough for him to be surprised, meaning that, in the previous time he left Mondstadt, there were no indications of Mondstadt abndoning freedom.

Venessas tribe flees the Mare Jivari: She belonged to the Anemo Clan of Natlan, and at some point, the whole tribe was exhiled (for unknown reasons, although theories point that maybe they were followers of the Tyrant Och-kan, who lived in his Kingdom). Some found a home in the barren land of Tenochtzitoc (currently a summer resort), and became great warriorr; while Vennessa’s side of the Clan went towards the true land of Anemo, Mondstadt, becoming known as Muratans, and losing some of their memories due to the leyline problems in Natlan, that always stopped people from leaving.

In the Aristocratic period, around 1600 years ago, the Lawrence Clan had taken too much power, distorted the values of Mondstadt, privatized or destroyed resources and information along with symbols of Barbatos, and sacrificed people to Ursa the Drake, possibly in exchange for more power. They enslaved Venessa’s clan upon arrival, and made her into a Gladiator. When Venti wakes up from slumber and realizes how wrong things are, he tests Venessa’s determination to fight for everyone, and teams with her to help her overthrow the Aristocracy.

Having learned his lessons about leaving people unchecked, Venti establishes the Knights of Favonius to protect Mondstadt and its ideals, led by Venessa. He also establishes the 4 Winds, this time actual beings instead of literal winds: The Dragon of the East (Dvalin), the Wolf of the North (Boreas/Andrius), the Falcon of the West (implied to be Venessa, even after her death), and the Lion of the South/Lionfang Knight/Dandelion Knight (always the leader of the Knights, meaning that for a time Venessa held two of these titles). Until the Cataclysm, those figures were worshiped and had temples built for them.

During the Cataclysm of Khaenri’ah, 500 ago, Barbatos was involved in dealing with several crisis across Teyvat: He threw the Mare Jivari off the timeline, he fought the dragon Durin alongside Dvalin to defend Mondstadt, and he potentially helped Makoto realize her plan to protect Inazuma before she died.

At some point in the past (there is no clue at all of the period of this), the Hexenzirkel witches once challenged the authority of Barbatos, but he solved things peacefully, and now the wishes have their own reserved places in Mondstadt, and are frequent visitors and allies.

Recently, at the behest of Grand Master Varka, Barbatos set up the Tripartite Conference between himself, the Hexenzirkel and the joint forces of the Knights and Church of Favonius. The full details of the agreement are unknown, but we know that the witches have agreed to help Mondstadt in times of need.

It’s implied that he fell into slumber somewhere between helping Varka and the events of the manga, and woke up shortly before the beginning of the game, because:

He isn’t at all involved in the events of the manga, that happened around 1 year before the Traveler arrives in Mondstadt

Varka had to be the Grandmaster to make a deal with the witches, but we know he left Mondstadt for Nod-Krai before the start of the manga, since Jean was already acting as a Grandmaster

Venti was alarmed at the realization that Dvalin had gotten corrupted, and was trying to fix the issue (this in turn implies that Dvalin only woke up in that state after the events in the manga).

Venti was fairly unknown by certain figures like Diluc at the start of the game, perhaps because Diluc was too young when Venti fell into slumber in the last time, and yet Venti had already gotten popular as a bard when the game started - either because some people recognized him from his appearance years ago (around Varka’s time), or he immediately introduced himself as a bard, growing his popularity quickly.

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Mondstadt

Mondstadt, the fairytale land with connections to every part of Teyvat (the Prologue was literally used to introduce everything, and every character there is representative of future content). I couldn’t leave out the Nation that Venti is an Archon of.

First, let’s talk about the period before Venti’s Archonhood, while he was just a wisp caught up in Old Mondstadt:

Decarabian was a participant of the Archon War - but what exactly motivated him?

The Archon War: It took place right after the fall of the Unified Civilization when Archons were the solution necessary to help stabilize Teyvat after the disasters brought by the War of Vengeance. Decarabian’s opponent was Andrius/Boreas, who likely came from Snezhnaya, and brought snow and blizzards to all of Teyvat. Mondstadt was completely covered in snow.

The safety of humans: To keep the humans in Mondstadt safe, especially from the cold, Decarabian enclosed them in a wind barrier (some, like the Lawrence Clan and possibly the Gunnhildr Clan not yet named that at the time, managed to leave the city). He micromanaged the city, forbid rebellious songs (although the CN version of Venti’s retelling implies that he only accepted hymns), and his winds were so strong that they forced people to bend their backs. He mistook that as respect, unaware that the humans resented him, which later led to their revolution to take down their god.

All for a Dream: Becoming a Tyrant in an attempt to protect humanity is not the only similarity he shares with other God-Kings. He was trying to attain a Dream, possibly another hivemind project - according to Fragment of Decarabian’s Epic, "If it were not for the song of freedom that shattered the city in an instant, Decarabian's dream would have gone on forever.” He might even have something akin to Deshret’s mausuleum or projects from other god-kings under his tower, the only location in the whole game that, if we try to access it, makes Paimon say something different than the usual: “Watch out! Don't go near there!”. In the cutscene of his death, he looks like a Sun when exploding, further connecting him to sun-kings or red-kings. Something something eternal dream and hiveminds.

Besides his goals, his appearance might also connect him to God-Kings.

We never see his appearance - possibly because Hoyo intends to show he was a dragon or had draconic features, which would make sense given that his tower has arches big enough for a dragon, a floating platform above, and was chosen by Dvalin as a nest. More likely than not, he even had the Authority of Anemo and was a Dragon Sovereign - not just because he was the God of Storms, but because he was associated with a divine throne that was destroyed during the rebellion. That has been officially confirmed now in this post (check pics below), but that was actually never hidden. The og ENG translations were simply bad, and replaced throne with crown for the purpose of rhyming, but you can see that this fan translation by dkniade pointed that it said throne in CN, along with mentions to a god’s seat.

ENG translations also still call Decarabian of Anemo Archon, which is simply incorrect because the Archon War wasn’t over yet, but maybe that was because they mistook it as Anemo Sovereign?

Amos was also far more important than people realize:

It’s unclear how Decarabian met Amos - maybe under his tower, closer to Leyline stuff? - but she was almost certainly a Seelie.

Amos became Decarabian’s lover who later joined the rebellion against him.

Her appearance, white white hair and blue clothes, already gives some slight seelie and moon themes.

She was the only member of the rebellion with a name (Either because the name of other members was forgotten to history, or maybe something more significant, like them rejecting their names and the roles they represented, or maybe names in Old Mondstadt were just the things people did, like being a Bard. I’m not counting last names, since we have those).

She had prophetic dreams, as you can see in her quotes in Amos’ Bow, and the biblical figure of Amos was a prophet - and Seelies were prophets too.

Seelies also often sided and protected humanity, which is what she did by joining the rebellion. Players often assume that she was human because of the dreams she had for humanity, but nothing actually states that.

Last but not least, she might have been the one who killed Decarabian (again implied in her bow), and it probably takes a non-human powerful being to do so.

She looks exactly like Istaroth, and I don’t think that is a coincidence in the slightest, especially when it’s implied across the game how Istaroth had several fragments of hers across civilizations. But I will expand on that in my Istaroth’s theory.

What about the other characters involved?

Like I said before, the others had no names, only last names at most. Possible exlanations: 1) the name of other members was forgotten to history 2) they rejected their names and the roles they represented (since we know how names are tied to a person's fate in Teyvat) 3) maybe names in Old Mondstadt were just the things people did, like being a Bard 4) names were possibly hidden to hide their identities from the Irminsul

The rebels came up with the Windblume tradition, although it had a different meaning back then

Nameless Bard: We don’t know much about the Nameless Bard… but he was the rebel who led the rebellion, and whose form Venti took after once he died, due to being a dear friend of Venti. He had a Cecilia pinned to his chest, which is relevant. His lyre was different from the typically large lyres of the time, as mentioned in the description of the teapot lyre. I can’t help but wonder if he is a reincarnation of other rebels from history: The young man (probably an Alberich, but that’s another theory) from the period of the Unified Civilization, that was possessed by the Traveler From Afar and went to the Ancient Seelie to free her. It’s possible that he later reincarnated into story Ajax (the one who ended in Hyperborea) drawn by vague memories of the seelie he once loved. My other guesses, besides the Nameless Bard, are the Crimson-Eyed Youth who rebelled against Och-kan. I am undecided if currently he is represented by Alice or Childe, to be honest - in part because Idk to which extenct we should separate the identities of the female Traveler from Afar and the male figures she possesses.

Red-haired warrior: He was a traveler who wasn't from Mondstadt (no idea how he managed to enter), and he was with the bard when he died in the cutscene. He is potentially an antecedent of the Ragnvindr family, but it's not certain, since he left Mondstadt after the death of his friend.

Gunnhildr: The Gunnhildr clan wasn't called that at the time - it changed name in her honor after she was a hero in the rebellion. But before all of that, she and her clan managed to leave the city and, when suffering in the cold outside, she prayed, somehow manifesting or attracting Venti. It's unclear when did she return to the city or how, but we see her in the final battle in the TCG card.

There are mentions of figures from other clans that were involved, like Lawrence members and the Imulaukr Clan.

Andrius: After Decarabian was taken down, Andrius realized he wasn’t fit to rule humans and became a ghost, the rebellion leader was dead, so was Amos, and the red-haired warrior felt hurt and left. So the Archon position went to Venti, who took the form of his friend and terraformed Mondstadt, but didn’t take the Divine Throne. That might be the actual reason why he is the “weakest of the archons” if that really is true. He also tried to not exert authority over humans.

Official translation vs Literal fan translation vs Recent official post

Alright, and what about present Mondstadt?

Aristocracy period: Venti ruled Mondstadt alongside Istaroth for a while, with the Temple of the Thousand Winds dedicated to the worship of both. It’s unclear when Istaroth was forgotten by time, and why Venti had to get into slumber, but he was gone for a long period and, when he woke up, the Aristocracy of Mondstadt (especially the Lawrence Clan) had become arrogant, betrayed its principles, and abused their power to crush the freedom of people. The temple was converted into a fighting Arena, much was destroyed (including the original library), and Natlan’s refuggees (Vennessa’s tribe) was turned into slaves and gladiators. Venti helped fix that and, after realizing that full freedom could backfire, established the Knights of Favonius and the Four Winds, with Venessa as part of both groups.

Dvalin: It is unclear when exactly Dvalin and Barbatos met, but the poet in Breeze Amidst the Forest (implied to be Venti himself) says it occurred in "ancient times, when the gods walked among us in their prime." This puts their meeting somewhere between Barbatos' ascension 2600 years ago, and his departure from Mondstadt between 2000 and 1000 years ago. Venti helped people realize that the dragon didn’t pose any danger, and raised Dvalin, teaching him to speak the human tongue. It’s very possible that Dvalin is a reincarnated Anemo Dragon Sovereign, and that Venti entrusted the Anemo Authority to him. 500 ago, during the cataclysm, Venti and Dvalin fought against Durin’s attack, Venti had to go into slumber and Dvalin got poisoned. Mondstadt’s Prologue was all about about helping save Dvalin from Abyssal corruption and show to the people of the present that he is still a good dragon.

Mondstadt and witches: The witches deserve their own post, but it’s really interesting how they have such strong ties to Mondstadt, with two witches even taking residence there temporarily (Rhinedottir somewhat, and Alice). The second Windblume Event took us to the floating island where the witches used to reunite over tea, and for the first time told us about the members of the Hezenxirkel. It also told us of how they at some point challenged the Anemo Archon, for unknown reasons, but he befriended them instead. Interesting detail: In the cutscene about the witches, there is a moment that display’s Istaroth’s star, the same that is the symbol of Khaenri’ah - I have a post about Istaroth and that symbol almost ready too, so I won’t elaborate here, so points for another connection between witches-khaenri’ah-istaroth-venti. The Imaginarium Theater, a domain from the witches outside of space and time, also has a portal in Mondstadt. Oh, and the summer events are always connected to Mondstadt AND the witches.

Mondstadt and Wine: I already have a whole section about that, but it’s definitely no coincidence. It connects to witches, it connects to the Abyss, it connects to seelies (Angel’s Share), it connects to so many things… please go read my section if you haven’t.

Abyss: The portal is located in Musk Reef - one of the areas terraformed by Venti after he ascended, that was previously he tip of the tallest snowy mountain, known as Pilos Peak. Currently, the island looks suspiciously like multiple moons overlapping (that symbol that everyone went crazy over after the recent web event, despite being present in the game for a while). Its structure is divided into the "Abyss Corridor," which connects worlds (Teyvat was disconnected from other worlds, or at least that’s what the Legend of the Shattered Halberd book implies), and the "Abyssal Moon Spire," which leads to the unknown (possibly the same spire created by the Seelie Ancestor). In each level, we collect stars.

Flowers: Some of the flowers prominent or exclusive to Mondstadt have very interesting meanings. I already went over Cecilias, so go read that section because it’s huge; Dandelions represent wishes that are carried over to the Anemo Archon when blown, but their seeds can also represent the souls and stories of people, which in a way is almost intercheangeable given how the wishing screen kinda grants us the souls of campanions; Windwheel Asters represent stars, also very relevant for Genshin given the constellation system; Lampgrass only glow at night, so they are part of the series of flowers that change with the moon; Roses don’t seemingly exist in Mondstadt, yet two characters (Lisa and Noelle, and Rosaria has thorns in her attacks) wear them, and associated with secrets in Monds (see Noelle Hangout), and are in the cover of a big chunk of fairytales.

Gateway to Celestia (thanks to 4clover31 on tumblr for the reminder): The base of Venti's massive statue in Mondstadt has inscribed at the base "Gateway to Celestia" - people have translated and figured that out from the very beginning of the game.

Eyes of Storm, Istaroth and the Nameless Island: Idk where I'm going with this but it's interesting how, although Eyes of Storm are primarily featured in Mondstadt, the Statue of the Omnipresent God in Inazuma that many people theorize to be a depiction of Istaroth has a necklace shaped like an Eye of Storm. See this image edited by CatWithBlueHat. The quests where we first learned about Istaroth/The Thousand Winds of Time also included Eyes of Storm. (thank you to 4clover31 on tumblr for reminding me of this)

Windmills with 6 wings: This is barely important, but it's also mentioned in Kaeya's quest so I can't just ignore xD Straight out pointed explicitly. Windmills irl tend to have 4 wings (not always), but in Mondstadt, they have 6, matching the number of wings that special beings in Teyvat typically have.

The important citizens of Mondstadt: There’s just so many that I have to break this in parts, but I really don’t like it when people dismiss Mondstadt, because everything there was a well-done setup to future content:

Kaeya is one of the few Khaenri’ah survivors, and from the Alberich dynasty no less, who not only took control of Khaenri’ah after King Irmin felt “indisposed”, but also was important far before that, being possibly one of the oldest lineages of Khaenri’ah;

Diluc is strongly connected with the Fatui, that he opposes, and with a secret organization that is probably the Hexenzirkel, judging by the cups in his mansion, Angel’s share and several other hints;

Jean is a descendant of Old Mondstadt, more specifically, of the original Gunnhildr who through her wishes attracted wisp Venti, and she is alsoboth the Dandelion Knight and the Lionfang Knight;

Rosaria has lived with bandits since childhood, was found by Varka and put in the church, and she isn’t a very faithful nun. More importantly, some people suspect she is originally from Nod-Krai - she is canonically from a mountain village and the bandit gang has endured freezing cold.

Albedo is an homunculus created by Rhinedottir, a witch, through Khemia, that he also practices, and he is technically Durin’s brother and adopted into Klee’s family;

Klee is Alice’s daughter and might very well become a super strong witch herself, and she also inherited Alice’s book;

Mona is Barbeloth’s apprentice and therefore can read fates, and another powerful witch;

Lisa is another powerful witch who was invited to be part of the Hexenzirkel (she declined), who also knows many truths and secrets;

Eula is a member of the aristocracy who goes against her family, and was taught by Amber’s grandfather;

Amber has a grandfather from Liyue, who dissapeared;

Fischl/Amy cosplays book Princess Fischl, who likely represents Istaroth and is from books written by the suspicious Mr.Nine, the author whose codename is A., so probably by Alice;

Razor has ties to Sumeru family, and his story introduced us to Boreas/Andrius;

Bennet was likely found in the Mare Jivari, a destroyed region in Natlan where wind doesn’t blow, and his bad luck is probably an extension of the curse that people from Natlan had before the Archon Quest, that prevented them from leaving the region because of Leyline issues;

Diona was one of the first characters we saw that displayed atavism (regressive animal traits), along with her whole family, and she also introduced us to the concept of fairy oceanids, and their connections with wine.

Sucrose is another character with atavism, likely a fox, and foxes are important on their own even with fairytale connections like the tale of the dandelion sea. She is another alchemist.

Noelle is very unsuspicious, but it’s interesting that she wears roses, and the fact that those flowers mean secrets in Mondstadt was even highlighted in her Hangout quest;

Mika and Barbara don’t seem to have anything weird going on.

Varka is out in an expedition with most of the Knights of Mondstadt, and will definitely be an important character too;

Dahlia got his own post: between dragon connections, and the potential to be the nameless bard reincarnated (or even have parts of Decarabian!)... yeah. [Here]

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That's it. My goal was to write the most extensive and in-dept post about Venti possible - you guys tell me if I succeeded and if this makes sense xD

I think I did, because reddit told me this

I have more lore posts on the way, so follow me for those if you want ^^ Meanwhile, I also made an aggregator post on reddit and posted this on AO3 (yes, in the middle of my venti-centric fic xD).

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Log of changes and when they happen - so you can catch up to what you lost after each of my updates:

[24/04/2025]:

I added some notes thanks to the reminders of several people:

a new section called "Compiling abyss connections" (go read that one above)

2 mondstadt bullet points

2 paragraphs to the illusions section

a paragraph and a new note in the timelines and slumbers section

a new paragraph in the apple section

In case you already read the post before, you can just check the new parts in the following pics (first full pic and highlighted parts in the others)

[11/07/2025]

No new sections, but the previous section about the Gnosis was repurposed to have more stuff. Here is a list of what I changed:

The section about Gnosis is now called Symbols, and talks about the Queen Gnosis, Mondstadt's vision case, and the UI icon for events with the compass/morning star/rosa dei venti

An analysis of the shape of the vision was added to the relevant parts discussing Venti's appearance

In the section about Mondstadt, I added a minor note about how windmills have 6 wings

In the section about apples, I reinforce why golden apples are important by showing how we got one in the Amphoreus arc from HSR

Dahlia is not even described in this post anymore, I instead link to a post entirely about him since I've been able to study him more since his release xD

Here are the changes in screenshots: 

[09/10/2025]

I added a section about titles, and reordered the themes to start with the simpler stuff (appearance, titles and symbols), as long as reordering more stuff so that closely related sections were next to each other

I added more about some visual characteristics

Added at the end of the section talking about his strength: “One thing that got confirmed in the 2025 summer event is that he has powers over time bestowed by Istaroth, in fact, a fragment of her authority, and that he used them to blow the Mare Jivari off the timeline. So it’s certain that he has lots of powers that he never shared, although they might come with caveats - like the sumbers I talk about in another section.”

I expanded on the significance of Cecilias, how what they represent in HI3 tie so well with the recently revealed title of “sentinel who holds the key”, and how their appearance on certain cutscenes might indicate that the one connected with that event was venti instead of Istaroth

Added 2 paragraphs in the section about Slumbers, showing how the Natlan summer event confirmed that using his powers can exhaust him.

On multiple sections, I included a mention of how his special dish connects cecilias with twists of fate, and possibly related to the exploration of sacramental food. More specifically, I say: “In his official dish, it’s said that the only difference with the traditional version is the inclusion of the Cecilia, and yet it adds: “But if you taste it carefully, you can taste the flavor of a wind that brings hope and tiny twists of fate.“”

I added some points in the sections about death and leylines, and venti potentially running out of time

Added the sections “Time loops and creator gods”, “compiling potential time-related feats”, and “His real age, birth and timeline” (not adding screenshot for those, just scroll up to read)

[cirkkaa]

Carmen Dei

[anilyan]

Paintovers of official genshin emojis, portraying the Old Mondstadt crew. Feel free to add them to your own discord servers - but if you use as pfp or share the pics somewhere else, please include credits.

I used the designs from the mods I made, so if you want to check them out, here is the bard, amos, the red-haired warrior, and gunnhildr (and yes, mods are safe to use/not cheats/no one was ever banned because of them, here is information and recommended tutorials)

Anyway, the 3rd chapter of volume 2 of my Old Mondstadt series Nameless is out ^^ This timeloop is far kinder than the last one.

[fluffydancer618]

"Stuck in the timeloop as a punishment" is cool and all, but stuck in the timeloop voluntarily though? Oh, brother. Stuck in the timeloop cause you just can't move on. Stuck in the timeloop even if you know that it's not real and whatever should've happen already did. Stuck in the timeloop even if doesn't makes you happy. You just can't bear the thought of not being able to see them ever again. Stuck in the timeloop even if you know you should move on. Stuck in the timeloop even if you know they would want you to move on.

But maybe just a little while longer.

[vanilla-plan1folia]

@anilyan

[anilyan]

I feel called out xD Venti in my fic is really going through the horrors

[anilyan]

My Old Mondstadt fic is alive!

I was miserable this month, but I came back strong! Vol2 Ch2 of my Old Mondstadt fic is one of the best things I've ever written.

If you like Venti, the Nameless Bard, found family, fluff and angst, and time loops, here is the link!

I know many people won't read it, because they were detained by how long the first volume of the series was xD But I'm glad that the people who read it think that the second volume is making it justice.

Take a poem that the bard sings in this chapter. This has many layers of meaning:

[littleblueberryartist]

I love you.

TODAY ON @lanternlightss YOUR AU AND WRITING FUCKING BROKE ME I WAS BAWLING LIKE A BABY OVER THIS OUGHHHHHHH

[anilyan]

This is breaking my heart...

[anilyan]

Venti is Phanes + on Istaroth and the Primordial One

[Edit 13/04/2025: THIS IS OLD AND MESSY. Instead, please check my updated theory, it really goes in-depth and is organized and without inconsistencies. I would have posted it on reddit, but it exceeded the character limit >.< So you can check it on tumblr and twitter]

Not so crack theory: Venti is Phanes and is the androgynous being born from the Chymical Marriage between the Primordial One and Istaroth, before she was betrayed by the Sinners

(I posted this before but now it's properly explained)

I am using this lore in my old mondstadt fic, Nameless (actually soon to turn into trilogy, since vol 2 is about venti rewinding time and vol 3 is present time story and I took so long to plan all the lore with all the canon crumbs and theories we had...)

Yes, a lot of the info about gods is pulled from wikipedia, I’m not being paid to research more, okay? I just want to feed the brainrot. My main sources besides those are the videos listed at the end.

I would love if this theory made its way to some big lore content creator for them to analyse and criticize, because I have been rotating this in my head but I don’t have their capacity or knowledge to tear this apart.

NOTES:

This post contain minimal mentions of 2 leaks, about the rest of the collection of The Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies, and a sus minimal old leak about Venti

This post contains some references to the Penacony arc from Honkai star rail, but no knowledge about the game is required and in fact, I don't even play it myself and those are just sus parallels

0. Summary / main points

Istaroth and the Primordial One parallel Chronos (personification of time) and Ananke (most powerful dictator of Fate and mother of The Fates/Moirai), respectively.

Chronos and Ananke laid down the cosmic / orphic world that created/reshaped the world. In a way, that was an Alchemical Marriage, that also gave birth to the androgynous winged being Phanes/Venti, and to the Abyss,

Venti has many ties to fate, including extensive apple symbology visible even in wisp form. The apples, besides being a symbol of fate, also represent a dream bubble in accordance to the structure of Teyvat. Quoting his most sus birthday art, “It is written that there is a whole tiny world hidden inside an apple core”

Venti has at least some control over 1 half of Teyvat while the other half is ruled by The Night Mother/Nyx. He also offers us half of the apple in the mentioned birthday art.

Ananke was a serpent-like being, and we see a Black Serpent 1) coiled around Phanes 2) coiled around the pearl/cosmic egg in the Gnostic Chorus 3) in the Black Serpent Knights, who also had Ishtar/Istaroth’s star as a symbol 4) In Nibelung, if we consider serpents and dragons the same

Istaroth supported Khaenri’ah (thus why the Nation had her symbol) and both opposed the Heavenly Principles/Celestia, until she was betrayed by the Sinners/6 Pygmies and forgotten

The Primordial One was opposed by Celestia. We also know that Nibelung fought Celestia. They were either allies or even the same being (a black serpent), and their perceived opposition is not too different from how Remus went down misinterpreted by history

1. About the Primordial One

In case it’s not yet clear, this assumes that Phanes =/= Primordial One. After all, the book Before the Sun and Moon simply says that “The Primordial One may have been Phanes*”,* and the fandom just started equating the two.

I am of the opinion that the Primordial One and Celestia are in opposition, while Istaroth is on the side of the Primordial One, or at least opposed to Celestia too. Maybe the Alchemical Marriage was part of a plan of theirs. Read more about it in section 3.

And if the truth about Remuria taught us anything, is that some rivalries depicted in history are false. In the same way Remus went down as a Tyrant when in reality he never wanted to employ force and was even allied with Sybilla (a vishap), I would say that the Primordial One and Nibelung/dragons/vishaps probably found ways to coexist. We do know that Nibelung went to war against the Heavenly Principles/Celestia, but if Celestia and Primordial One opposed each other, that just makes an alliance between PO and the Dragon King more likely.

We don’t know if Primordial One = 1st Descender and Celestia = 2nd Descender, so I will avoid using those terms throughout the post. But if the 2nd who came = 2nd Descender = Celestia, then that would lend further credibility to the idea that Celestia and the PO are on opposing sides, since the 2nd who came basically stole PO’s ruling of Teyvat.

2. About Istaroth AND Khaenri’ah

Like I said above, I believe that Istaroth sides with the Primordial One and that both are in opposition to Celestia

Istaroth has the ability to create alt Looms of Fate through those seeds she gives away - those basically grow into trees that are databases of history outside the control of Celestia. I had already affirmed this for my fic before we got the 2nd Caribert quest, but at this point is practically confirmed.

Istaroth is based on Astaroth and Ishtar, and Ishtar’s morning star is an 8-pointed star just like the symbol of Khaenri’ah. And so the Black Serpent Nights probably served Istaroth in some way.

Khaenri’ah supposedly didn’t have a god, but let’s keep in mind Istaroth was forgotten by time. It’s also possible that, even if Khaenri’ah had a god, they still considered themselves the pride of humankind since Istaroth likely wasn’t associated with Celestia, as I mentioned

Speaking of Black Serpents, other prevalent Black serpents are the one in the Gnostic Chorus, and Nibelung, in a way (not sure if they are or not the same entity). So I would say that Nibelung is/was also allied with Khaenri’ah/Istaroth/Primordial One. Please refer to the section above for an explanation.

The 6 Pygmies and the Pale Princess is a book that is an allegory for the 5 Sinners of Khaenri’ah + Dainsleif and Istaroth. I include, at the end, a video that explains that properly and is very much worth the watch. From there (or at least, from the leaked volumes), we know that the Sinners basically betrayed Istaroth, which might explain why she ended up being forgotten and why Dainsleif is the only Pygmie that didn’t go fully down the Sinner’s path.

3. The relationship between the Primordial One and Istaroth

Like I say above, many things point to them being allied. At the very least, we can quite safely infer they both opposed Celestia/The Heavenly Principles and in turn allied with Khaenri’ah.

The cosmic/ orphic/world egg was created by Chronos (personification of time) and Ananke (most powerful dictator of Fate and mother of The Fates/Moirai). “Ananke and Chronos are mates, mingling together in serpent form as a tie around the universe. Together, they have crushed the primal egg of creation of which constituent parts became earth, heaven and sea to form the ordered universe.”

Ananke and Chronos have to be the PO and Istaroth - which one is which is a bit debatable, with their genders being a counterargument on its own. But I would say Chronos is Istaroth (due to her associations with time, although she is more a god of moments than of time) while Ananke is the Primordial One (who had the 3 moon sisters/moirai as shades + is probably the Dreamer/HSR’s SUNday parallel who plays the symphony that creates the fates reflected by the moons (read more in next section)).

The cosmic egg that birthed the world, together with the Abyss AND Venti, probably resulted from their Alchemical Marriage. I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was also the Gnostic Pearl depicted in the Gnostic Chorus cutscene, or even if the Black Serpent there was Ananke/Primordial One. In fact, that would only solidify the connections with the Black Serpent Knights and them wearing Istaroth’s symbol. And it would be extra funny if somehow the Primordial One and Nibelung were the same entity (since I already explained why I think they were are least on the same side)… and therefore were a black serpent/dragon.

Okay, but what is an Alchemical/Chymical Marriage? It’s a marriage between a Red King and a White Queen, the Sun and the Moon, gold and silver, sulphur and mercury. It’s sometimes pointed as the source of the Philosophers' Stone, and from that union of opposites is birthed an androgynous being. Btw, that marriage is facilitated by a dove, but this is off-topic and you can see why that is interesting in the last video linked. It’s also a process that sometimes involves ‘fermentation”, which is also off-topic but ties well with the wine-making process and other things mentioned in the last video too.

According to Jakob: "The Seal of Chymical Marriage was an ancient Fontainian ritual meant to seal off the source of life. Now it has been reversed, and all has been set free once more!" So, it can be used to separate the Primordial Sea from the world, which sounds similar to creating a world/pearl/philosopher’s stone/egg/dream bubble that floats in the sea of quanta or wtv is the logic used across Hoyoverse’s worlds. We confirm again this was necessary to create Teyvat's egg, and that the Primordial One couldn’t do it alone because two people are required for a marriage.

And do you know what Marriages also require? A ring. Who was escaping with a golden ring, that is an important figure of Khaenri’ah and the only Pygmy who didn’t act like the others/didn’t become a Sinner? Dainsleif, whose constellation is even a Serpent ring. May I point to the Das Rheinegold music drama, that is part of the series The Ring of Nibelung, and maybe use that as extra merit to associate the Primordial One with Nibelung?

4. About the world of Teyvat

Dragons = Vishaps = Sea slugs = Bees = Seelies. Yes. We already know that the the dragons and seelies in Genshin are based on irl sea slugs, I won’t elaborate on that. As for Bees, that is because we have seelie-like bees in Remuria, connected to the prophet Golden-Bee Sybilla (don’t mistake Sybilla with Sylla, who is a Dragon King, although I guess this is all the same family)

Teyvat is theoretically 2 worlds/halves, the version we know and the mirror world, that is probably the Abyss. Or maybe all of it is a mirror world, idk. We can even see similar world structures in Honkai Star Rail, especially in Penacony, where the world there is literally mirrored and a dream too. Some people say Teyvat is divided in 3 parts: the Light Realm, Void Realm, and the Human Realm. But I think the Pimordial One just transformed the Light Realm into the Human Realm, so there are still 2 parts only, and we know they can overlap anyway.

Cycle: People die » are absorbed by the roots » are supposed to travel to the top of the world tree (inverted, so top is in abyss) to become Irminsul fruit / stars » said stars form constellations that determine people's fate, or more accurately, since they are all in a dream, are data that allows the tree to predict their fates » it’s because people exist as stars that their fates and presence can be summoned in the form of shooting stars

Dainsleif confirmed that the leylines can be woven to determine Fate / have their records changed. The Loom used to weave them is a Symphony, or in other words, Remus’ Symphony of Fate is very similar or the same thing as a Loom of Fate, although maybe not at the same scale. It’s possible that other God-Kings also attempted to create their own Looms of Fate.

Add to that some Penacony’s parallels, and you can infer that the Symphony is controlled in a floating palace, that is actually a Grande Theater, by the Sun(day) (potentially Phanes or the Primordial One, basically the one who Dreams), and it’s reflected by the moons (Aria, Sonnet and Canon, so the musical associations are fitting). Considering that the 3 moon sisters are also probably the mythological Moirai who weave Fate, yeah, that tracks.

5. Finally, about Venti

Addressing the Venti is/isn’t the weakest Archon debate: Idk and I don’t quite care, because regardless of how much power he holds now, this theory is about his origins and role more than anything.

Venti is the one narrating the Gnostic Chorus cutscene, so clearly he knows about the origins of Teyvat and other important stuff. Yes, it can just be because of his ties to Istaroth who had the winds of time and bla bla, but I would say he has a bigger involvement.

In the Gnostic Chorus, there is a Black serpent, and I already mentioned how it ties with Khaenri’ah and Istaroth in the second section. Well, Phanes is a figure that has a serpent coiled around him too, Ananke, to be more precise.

Phanes was believed to have hatched from the egg of Chronos and Ananke (Istaroth and PO, section 3), OR Nyx in the form of a black bird and wind, OR from the cosmic /orphic egg placed in and hatched from Aether, who was the personification of the bright upper sky and another son of Chronos. Regardless, it seems like the egg birthed both Phanes AND the world?

Phanes is described sometimes as male, sometimes as androgynous. I don’t need to explain how that fits Venti. The androgynous part also fits with how a being born from an Alchemical Marriage should be androgynous due to being an union of opposites.

Phanes is also described has having wings and a crown. We are yet to see a crown, but at least the angel wings are there.

Some myths say that Phanes was Dionysus (god of wine… amongst other things), or Eros (god of love, yes I’m simplifying), and oh boy isn’t Venti the god of all of that too? Although this is complicated since it has to do with gods being iterations of past gods and such, you can read more about it here

In a certain play, after Phanes mates with Chaos, he creates flying creatures. It would also fit Venti well, especially given that tale from Amber’s Quest where he taught birds how to fly.

Okay, this gets less obvious now. Phanes is a first-born deity who emerged from the abyss and gave birth to the universe, and is a god of creation, light and goodness. The Abyss part is extra intriguing because the world has an abyss half, and some in-game books even compare wine with the Abyss, and also with the idea that drinking the abyss/wine is a way to acquire Forbidden Knowledge. Please, check the last video I link.

Phanes counterpart is Nyx (Night). In some tales she is Phane’s wife, sometimes his daughter, and in others she creates an egg from which Phanes is born, so wtv. I don’t know who Nyx is (besides being clearly The Night Mother from the book of the Six Pygmies), but it’s pretty clear that the Abyss half is under her responsibility in some way.

Oh, right, this was a sus leak that broke my mind months ago and seemed completely nonsensical, but since I started cooking this theory, I can’t help but look back at it. It claimed that Venti was the guide of the Primordial One. Humm… yeah, if Venti was part of a plan between Istaroth and PO, I can see that, although I don’t know what the goal could be. Maybe he is assuming Istaroth’s role now that she is gone in supporting the PO?

This is a very wild guess, but I really thing Venti has something to do with the Gnostic Pearl. Idk if that pearl is the same one that hatched the world, or something that holds the world together (think Mikha from HSR), but I can imagine him having some responsibility over taking care of it.

And if you think Venti holding Fate in his hands is a stretch… let’s talk about Apples. Especially in anime, Apples are often depicted as the fruit of Fate (look no further than Mawaru Penguindrum), and in Inazuma, the girl giving Fortune Slips is called Gendou Ringo, with Ringo meaning ‘apple’ in Japanese. Well… Mondstadt is a land full of apple trees, Venti loves apple cider and is often asking for apples to pay for his performances, is being given an apple in archon form in one of his birthday arts, created the Golden-Apple Archipelago, and even the top of his head in wisp form resembles an apple stem. Seriously, I go crazy with how many people never noticed that. This is too much in our face to not be relevant.

This sounds like a stretch, but apples are round and so the shape is not too different from a dream bubble. And do you know what the birthday art I mentioned had in the caption? “It is written that there is a whole tiny world hidden inside an apple core. Here, this half is for you. Let's take a stroll in the tiny little world. But remember to keep it a secret because... you're the only one I want to bring there.” If he isn’t holding Fate or a world in some way, then I don’t know what this is supposed to mean.

You know how I said that Teyvat is divided into 2 halves? That also connects well with his quote (when he gives us half of the apple/world), and with the idea that Phanes is the day while Nyx is the night. So maybe Venti is responsible for the half of Teyvat that we know/he gave us while Nyx is responsible for the Abyss side.

So… is there any proof that Venti is Phanes? No. Are there many many sus elements about him and connections with the things I listed? Yes. I could see the Traveler being Phanes and being entrusted the Light/Human half of Teyvat by Venti as a scenario just as likely, especially if The Abyss sibling ends up being/becoming Nyx, but I like this version more xD

But even if the main theory ends up being wrong, I hope people you got some things to think about.

Some videos for extra lore, more a less in order of relevance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZIR-tfzfd4 » Reinterpretation of all volumes of the Six Pygmies and the Pale Princess in light of finding out about the 5 Sinners of Khaenri’ah + Dain + connections of Istaroth with Khaenri’ah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK3xYKtUniQ » More about the connections between Istaroth and Khaenri’ah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePjY4c0Rj0k » Elaborates on how a Loom of Fate is basically another database, as opposed to the Irminsul, and mentios how Istaroth can could create several Looms of Fate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAm9uElsKd4 » Parallels with the Penacony arc from Honkai Start Rail and list of evidences that Teyvat is a Dream bubble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhST-fz6Yps » Video is from before we learned about the 5 Sinners, and I’m not fully sold on the chronology, but I still think it does a good job at elaborating n the serpent thing from the gnostic chorus and other things we can infer about genshin thanks to parallels to Penacony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHCv8KFdL6M&t=1045s » Ties sacramental bread and blood with wine and the way wisdom/abilities can be passed down thrown ingesting parts of gods, and the concept of fairy rings and The Ring of Nibelung, with the concept of a Chemical Marriage.