I have a dire confession to make... I once played League of Legends, when I was young and foolish... Most of that fandom (and Riot) are kinda gross and I do not care to associate with them anymore (I havent even played League in years), but... I used to adore some of the characters, and even had a RP blog for Ekko for quite some time since I love him very much and wish I could take him away from League and put him in his own little universe...
But... the new Arcane animated series is very good... and it features Ekko in a spectacular way..! My muse for him has been rekindled after literal years and I... did the thing.
Iโve been away for a bit, and Iโm sorry for that! Iโve mostly just been struggling with drumming up inspiration for Ganyu. She is intrinsically tied to Liyue Harbor and has very little, if any, reason to leave it. With many forays away from Liyue, such as the Windblume Festival and the Golden Apple Archipelago, along with the story finally heading to Inazuma, that struggle has continued. Her brief appearance in 1.4 was welcome, but other than that I fear that she, like most Mondstadt and Liyue characters, will be left in the dust now that weโve arrived to 2.0.ย
I may have to adjust some things here and go even further divergent from canon, just for the sake of better justifying interactions with characters outside of Liyue, and it will probably tie into my 1.4/1.5 speculation from this post.ย
Mild spoilers under the cut!!
My thought is that, perhaps Morax forges a new contract with her, one that bids her to aid the Traveler as best she can, up to and including leaving Liyue to accompany them to other regions like Inazuma. Perhaps he enlists the aid of some other adepti-disguised-as-mortals to cover for her in the Qixing..? She has dutifully fulfilled her first contract with him for thousands of years, and while she will have a lot of difficulty adjusting to such a shift in her lifestyle, I think sheโll come to appreciate it in time. Anyways, stay tuned! Hopefully this change can help get the Creative Juicesย flowing again...
I did a bit more thinking about this postย about Ganyuโs conversation in the 1.1 story about the Archons and Moraxโsย โdeath.โ And when I think about 1.1 as a whole, and more recent events regarding the Traveler and their sibling, I canโt help but think Zhongli is playing his cards very close to his chest, with some help from Ganyu...
ย ย ย ย ย (1.4 and 1.5 spoilers below the cut!!)
In 1.4, after accepting a commission from Ganyu, the Traveler finally reunites with their sibling, albeit briefly. And their sibling tells them some VERY troubling things about Celestia and Khaenriโah. In 1.5, after helping him deal with Azhdaha, the Traveler has a chance to ask Zhongli (aka Morax) about it, and... He is unable to answer the Travelerโs questions due to some unknown contractย he is bound by, and expresses regret about it. (It makes me wonder how Venti is going to react when the Traveler tries to press himย for answers...)
Since Morax is the God of Contracts, it only makes sense that he would honor one completely... But, heโs also The God of Contracts. If thereโs anyย sort of loophole he can exploit to do what he actually wants to do (i.e. helping the Traveler), heโs going to find it. Consider that he willingly gave up his Gnosisย to the Tsarista (compared to Barbatos who had his Gnosis forcefully stolen), who has made her intentions of raging against Celestia quite clear. What could she have offered in return to sway him..? Well... how about raging against Celestia?
I think Morax forged a contract with Celestia eons ago... one that prevents him from directly acting against Celestia in any way. But, if the Tsarista happened to acquire the source of his power and use that against Celestia, well... heโs not directly acting against it anymore, is he? Consider also that the entirety of 1.1 was effectively his plot. Childe thought he had played everyone, but it was really Zhongli who got everything he wanted out of the Osial crisis.ย
Morax is no fool. Heโs very intelligent and cunning, but heโs also very subtle.ย The conversation with Ganyu in 1.1..? I think thatโs another way that he acted against Celestia indirectly. His contract might prevent him from telling the Traveler too much about the other Archons or Celestia itself, but there is nothing like that stopping Ganyuย from talking about them. And I think Ganyu is at least somewhat aware of this, so Iโm mildly hopeful that sheโll pop up again during the main story to feed the Traveler some more info at the behest of Morax...
Because, while Ganyu is generally touted as โthe secretary of the Qixingโ, and โemissary of the Tianquanโ... she was loyal to Morax first and foremost, long before the Qixing even existed. Sheโs one of the very few playable characters with very close ties to Celestia and the Archons, and also one of the few playable characters to have been around beforeย the calamity 500 years ago that destroyed Khaenriโah and set the current events of Genshin Impact in motion. Iโve got to believe that sheโs still going to be relevant to the story even several patches from now...
A small part of the reason that Ganyu has taken Yaoyao under her wing is because she is a descendant of one of her late husbands, Yaofan. He was one of the founding members of the Liyue Qixing nearly 2000 years ago, and even though Ganyu was unable to bear a child for him due to her infertility, his family line still lived on through his siblings and cousins. She hasnโt mentioned this connection to Yaoyao, however, and she likely never will.ย
