goldenmajesty

灿 阳一瞬, 不动岩心 ◈┈┈┈┈┉┉⊏❖⊐┉┉┈┈┈┈◈ "rays of sunlight pierce through, the heart of stone remains still"

[ge0dijun]

some Zhongli and Tartaglia sketches, because I saw the leaks saying that they're going to interact in 7.1 and I can't wait to finally see my favorite characters together again

"You look good, Mr. Zhongli."

"I appreciate the compliment, Lord Harbinger."

[ge0dijun]

I've also been thinking a lot about the Three Deadly Selves since the last Lantern Rite. What caught my attention the most is that, despite Zhongli teaching this technique to Zibai, Zibai could never completely eliminate her deadly selves because she's an angel who had no impurities to exorcise. I believe this is what led us, along with Zhongli, to have to find her deadly selves so she could become whole again and resurrect.

What intrigues me is, if Zhongli was the one who taught Zibai how to exorcise the Deadly Selves, that means he himself had impurities to be exorcised. If I had to guess, I would honestly say that this impurity is anger. Much of Zhongli's calm personality and gentleness seems to stem from rage repressed for millennia; the Adepti say he was different and more ruthless before, and artifacts in the game suggest that he had to "seal his own hatred" in order not to be corrupted during the Archon War. Also, the whole idea of Zibai finding Morax split into three, with his three deadly selves brutally fighting each other, is a really cool but also really terrifying concept. She was unable to identify what he is, yet acknowledged that despite this he was "strong enough to rival the divine," and the other versions of him chanting "Lord of Geo" and "Heaven's Star" like, hello?? That's incredible!

Trying to let go of impurities, such as rage, is also a very Taoist concept, and Zhongli is quite Taoist in his approach of accepting his own erosion and the natural flow of Teyvat.

Anyway, here's a drawing I made of the old besties because I love them

[ge0dijun]

I'm currently going through a period where I'm almost dropping Genshin, for several factors such as work, university, and the overall performance of Genshin itself in terms of narrative and gameplay. However, in my free time, I've been doing a lot of brainstorming and drafting about Zhongli's lore and character development. He's my favorite character, and I've always enjoyed exploring the possibilities of what could be done outside the limitations of the gacha format. While I was writing, many questions arose, which made me very excited about the whole project.

Perhaps the most obvious were the questions about Zhongli/Morax's personality and strength. Morax is often described as a cold god, devoid of gentleness and sometimes even cruel, especially considering his actions during the Archon War. What I wonder is: was he actually cruel, or is this a collective misconception? Perhaps he is indeed cruel, and Liyue tends to try to omit this cruelty by describing him as "gentle, caring, and paternal" towards his people, so that their god doesn't appear evil and make them feel superior to other nations (which they do in the game already, they quite literally call Mondstadt "godless", which also brings me to another point I have that Zhongli's test and retirement were a way to force Liyue to realize that they need to fend for themselves and that they won't have his guide and protection forever). Or, perhaps, Morax was an extremely rational and pragmatic god who, eventually, took many actions that could be interpreted as cruel in his contracts, and this is an idea that I quite like because it makes him seem more divine and distant from humanity before his hermitage as the mortal Zhongli.

Regarding his powers, there's a complicated paradox there. Azhdaha mentions Morax as the strongest, La Signora says that defeating Osial would be too easy for him if necessary, Zibai tells us that he was the Lord of Geo before even receiving the Geo gnosis...you got the idea. My question is, if he is the strongest and the one who possessed knowledge of secret arts that he taught to the other Adepti, did he have a master to teach him or did he simply "know" all these things somehow? Did he train martial arts with someone or something, or was he simply "born" an impressive warrior? Did someone teach him the arts he taught the Adepti, or did he simply knew them?

I think my point is that Zhongli functions both as a Celestial God and as an Earthly God. He describes himself as a "god of mankind," even though he is still very much connected to the Celestial Principles. I like to think that perhaps he is a celestial being, native to Teyvat or not, who already possessed the innate knowledge tied to divinity itself and passed it on to the Adepti and humanity. But did he do this because he wanted to or because it was his duty? Knowing his character, I think it was out of duty, and then he ended up genuinely becoming fond of those around him. But then who is the authority behind him? Celestia? Is that why he is the Heaven's Star? If it is about duty, then what is his duty? Witnessing the beginning and end of Teyvat and preserving the memories of the land? That sounds extremely close to the themes explored in the Temple of Space quest...

He also mentions that Teyvat is entering a new era, and that was one of the reasons that led him to abandon his post as the Geo Archon. I think he knows something we don't.

So many things to consider honestly...

(Also, the whole "the statues of the seven hang upside down in the firmament, but only one is different from the others" really made me think. I felt like I was back in 2022-2023, when people were discussing the fact that Zhongli was the only Archon holding a cube instead of a circular shape is this statue, which has become even stranger now that we know cubes are strongly associated with Celestia and Asmoday because of the Temple of Space.)

I drew this, by the way