genshin lore + analysis

A blog for dissecting plot points, characters, and worldbuilding from Genshin Impact. Thank you for reading my rambles. Follows back from astrophyta.

[genshinnrambles]

Master Post/Directory (WIP)

Revised 8/3/24

I love when y’all leave comments in the tags, you all have such interesting ideas and perspectives and I love reading them.

Ask box is always open ✉️ let’s be nerds about lore together.

The Genshin patch version that a post was published during is indicated in brackets next to the title.

DISCLAIMER: I try to update all past theories with a note at the top if I'm absolutely sure it's been disproven since it was posted, but I can't guarantee every debunked post will have this note. Assume that the older the post, the less accurate its content.

-posts under the cut-

Lore Analysis and Theories

[2.2] Ley Lines, Ley Line Disorders, Ambition, and Elemental Energy Part 1

[2.3] Albedo, Scaramouche, (Bio)mimicry, and Engulfing the Thrones (Archived)

[2.3] An Analysis on What’s Hiding in the Kageuchi Handguard Description Regarding Scaramouche, Ei, and Makoto’s lore.

[2.5] The Kamisatos, Scaramouche, and the Rather Aged Notes: A Theory

[2.5] Ley Lines, Ley Line Disorders, Ambition, and Elemental Energy Theory Part 2

[2.6] On Kuronushi, Kunikuzushi, and the Lessons of Irodori

[2.7] We Have the Raiden Gokaden Downfall All Wrong

[2.8] We Have the Raiden Gokaden Downfall All Wrong Pt. 2

[3.2] Haypasia, the Irodori Warehouse Thief, and the Rather Aged Notes

[3.3] On Dreams, the Abyss, Forbidden Knowledge, and Wish Fulfillment

[3.5] The Uncanny, Fate, and the Machine

[3.8] Technology as a False God: On "Evolution," the Duality of Machines, Replication, and Wisdom

[4.0] Some theories about the Primoridal Sea

[4.0] A Theory on Rhinedottir, Alchemy, and the Meaning of Sin

[4.1] The Primordial Sea Pt. 2: Creation as the Key to Sin

[4.1] What is "it"?: Theories on Will, Wishes, and Fate

Character Analysis

[2.1] An analysis of Kazuha and his friend as narrative parallels of Asase Hibiki and Takamine the Mistsplitter (Archived)

[2.3] Kazuha's Melancholy

[2.4] Scaramouche's Transient Dream

[2.7] A History of Bosacius

Lore Explainers (no analysis)

[2.5] The Chasm Preview: Formation and Early History

[2.5] The Chasm Preview: Cataclysm Era

[2.5] The Chasm Preview: Post-Cataclysm and Present Day

[121231212i]

Istaroth

[genshinnrambles]

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW WELKIN MOON EVENT OMG

yes 👀 and the final update should be in just under 30 mins iirc

EDIT: woops, no final update yet. very excited to see the final stuff!

[genshinnrambles]

Archon Quest Chapter V Notes - Act III, IV, and Interlude

Concluding my review of the Natlan Archon Quests ideas, concepts, and plots with all content from version 5.1 and 5.2. Content from version 5.0 can be found here. Like before, the purpose of these notes is to organize the ideas presented in each act. The themes, introduced concepts, main plot, and subplots are summarized as I saw them, with some denoted speculations.

Spoilers: Again, it’s in the title. If you’re not caught up, you have been warned!

Disclaimer: This is clearly not exhaustive, and I might have missed things/underemphasized things that deserved more space. This group of acts is very dense, especially Act IV.

Act III: Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors

Themes: Deceit/illusions, guilt/regret*, sacrifice*, debt, facing the impossible, “No one fights alone”**

*repeating theme from Act II, **repeating theme from Act I

(in Act III + IV, “debt” and “facing the impossible” are shared dominant themes in the way that “No one fights alone” was for Act I and II)

Concepts Introduced:

Ancient Names (pt. 2): Not a new concept, but deepening its complexity. Ancient Names can be forged, which we learned at the end of Act II. However, they’re forged with memories of its first hero’s deeds within Natlan. That is, the hero’s legacy must be recorded in the Night Kingdom for it to work.

Vision system parallels intensify! This whole thing about the Traveler getting an Ancient Name does remind me of what Miko said at the end of the Inazuma AQ about the Traveler maybe getting a Vision someday. Still not sure if this is intended to be the follow up for that, or if more will be revealed.

The Lord of the Night: the entity who rules the Night Kingdom and protects Natlan from the Abyss.

“Incomplete Soul”: A special condition afflicting Ororon since he was a child. Due to the fragmented nature of his soul, his body has the potential to house more than one soul at a time. This condition was once seen as a potential solution to Natlan’s damaged Ley Lines, but the Masters of the Night-Wind’s ceremony failed and Ororon escaped the Night Kingdom with his life.

Pyro Gnosis: Specifically, its ability to weave the souls of the Night Kingdom into a “net” that would protect the Ley Lines from Abyssal corrosion. This was the contingency plan the previous Pyro Archons developed against the threat of the Abyss.

Source Mechanism: An ancient dragon relic that has a similar function to the Pyro Gnosis.

Main Plot:

Like Act I, Act III is meant to set up all of the conflict in Act IV and let the subplots have some time to breathe. The main plot is pretty simple for this act: abyss attacks are getting more frequent, and Mavuika is setting up information networks between tribes to counter them. As the Traveler tries to solve the conundrum of forging their Ancient Name, they learn that The Captain has concerns about Mavuika’s plan – according to him, Mavuika is lying to them all, and yet another way to resolve the crisis exists. But everything is so confusing! Who’s telling the truth, and who’s lying? And that’s because this act is all about deception, hence the “smoke and mirrors,” beyond which lies the truth. Anyway, here’s some more detailed summary:

With the Traveler officially recruited to Mavuika’s plan, things are looking up. Only problem is, the Traveler is an outlander, and they’ll need an Ancient Name for the plan to work. To get an Ancient Name, the Traveler’s accomplishments in Natlan need to be acknowledged in the Night Kingdom. Xilonen, the awakened hero from the Children of Echoes and an Ancient Name forger, suggests they meet with Citlali of the Masters of the Night-Wind to determine the path forward. Before they go, Kinich passes them his intel about Capitano’s co-conspirator, Ororon, who is yet another person from the Masters of the Night-Wind. He proposes they offer Citlali to help track Ororon and determine the nature of his involvement with the Fatui in exchange for her help with forging the Ancient Name.

Citlali accepts this exchange: once Ororon is back, she’ll take the Traveler to see the Lord of the Night, the ruler of the Night Kingdom, to resolve the Ancient Name conundrum. While looking for clues of Ororon’s whereabouts using a phlogiston trail, Citlali and the Traveler split up at a fork in the trail, playing right into Capitano’s hands. Ororon lures the Traveler’s soul into the Night Kingdom, where the Harbinger requests a meeting in person to disclose his intentions. Privately, Ororon also requests the Traveler’s silence about his willing participation from Citlali. Once they return to their body, they go with Citlali to a nearby Fatui camp where they find Ororon and take him back to the Stadium.

The Traveler meets up with Capitano to the east of the Stadium. There, he reveals his dissatisfaction with Mavuika’s plan and its over-reliance on fate given the stakes. Capitano then makes two claims: first, Mavuika has a contingency plan for the Abyss’s invasion that she hasn’t disclosed to the heroes, ergo she is lying to all of them, and second, he has found a new way to combat the crisis that doesn’t involve the Gnosis. Citlali interrupts the meeting, and The Captain flees. Ororon is tight-lipped under all of Citlali’s questioning and eventually manages to trick her and slip away.

Citlali gets piss drunk to deal with her grandson’s apparent betrayal and the shame of explaining his situation to the Traveler. In truth, Ororon has a “fragmented soul,” meaning he can be a vessel for more than one soul at a time. The Masters of the Night-Wind tried to use Ororon’s unique constitution to guide lost souls back into the Night Kingdom, even though the ceremony would have cost him his life. The ceremony failed, and he survived—Citlali had never given her approval for it, but she also didn’t try to stop it at the time. 

The Abyss attacks are getting more frequent and widespread. The Traveler asks Mavuika to verify Capitano’s claims about the Gnosis. Like the metaphysical “net” used to capture the concepts of Kachina’s Ancient Name, the Gnosis can weave souls into a “net” to cover the Ley Lines and repel the Abyss. The cost is all of Natlan’s history and culture, as the memories of these souls would be lost in the process. And this plan could still fail, so Mavuika is unwilling to entertain it.

Xilonen: Life is important, but so are history and memory.

The Traveler helps Mualani, Xilonen, and Kachina at the Children of Echoes. Mualani laments how her lack of speed may have contributed to some people getting hurt in the attack, setting up the importance of the “chain reaction” of decisions that comes to a head in the next act. Chasca and Chuychu come across some valuable intel - the Fatui are trying to dig up a dragon relic called the “Source Mechanism,” which Mavuika assumes has a similar role to the Gnosis given Capitano’s interest in it. Citlali returns from the Masters of the Night-Wind with more news of Ororon. Though he came to defend the tribe from the Abyss attack, he refused to abandon his plan due to his “duty to Natlan as a whole.” Unbeknownst to Ororon, Citlali copied his recent memories onto an old gem that controls the soul-stabilizing talisman she created for him. She and the Traveler spy on his memories with the gem to determine the truth of his involvement, and this is what they find:

First, Ororon is baby and talks to his vegetables. Second, Capitano was originally looking for Citlali, and seems to have some knowledge of the Masters of the Night-Wind’s soul ferrying spells. Ororon watches Capitano’s duel with Mavuika from the shadows and deploys his smoke trick to allow Capitano to escape the Stadium. In the cavern seen at the end of Act II, Capitano reveals he is searching for information on the Night Kingdom, which is why he’s seeking Citlali (basically, almost the same reason we were seeking her out). Ororon chooses to collaborate with him so that he can fulfill his “duty,” and proposes that they reconstruct the Ley Lines themselves to avoid the contingency plan. But what is the cost? Paimon compares this plan to Khaenri’ah’s Loom of Fate.

Subplots:

Citlali’s loneliness and guilt. She’s eccentric, intense, and a bit sensitive. Many in her tribe are jealous of her and her accomplishments – she is “the impossible” to the rest of her tribe, but where does that leave her? She’s clearly not used to socializing with others, but she has a soft spot for Ororon as a fellow eccentric. Ororon's kindness means a lot to Citlali, and is one more reason she beats herself up for not stopping the ceremony.

(yes, that really happened to her)

Ororon’s fragmented soul and the potential for him to “ferry” lost souls into their final resting place, the Night Kingdom. Citlali suspects his involvement with the Fatui is related to his guilt for the ceremony’s failure to repair the Ley Lines - this was his “duty” as a vessel, to be sacrificed for a greater good. In other words, he feels he has a debt to pay to Natlan. "Debt" and "soul ferrying" are parallels he shares with Capitano.

Ororon: I want to change Natlan for the better. Something I can accomplish with my own two hands…

(stares in Tsurumi Island)

More important Mavuika development - again we see her acute awareness of the weight of a soul, the value of memory, and the thread of culture through time. This is what allows people to face the impossible, knowing that they’re part of a legacy of people who faced it too.

(and uh, this is basically the message of the Honkai: Star Rail Penacony arc that wrapped up last spring. “Witnessing the impossible,” ‘death’ (dormancy), and facing the primal fear of life as did all humans that came before you).

“No one fights alone” is more subtle in this act. Its opposite is exhibited through Ororon’s behavior, icing Citlali out of his true intentions and dealing with his wish to save Natlan by himself. Its true meaning is seen when the Traveler loops the others in about Capitano’s secret plan, when they go to the Children of Echoes to deal with an Abyssal Pylon, and when Chasca and Chuychu team up to infiltrate the Fatui base. Citlali experiences a positive development related to the theme that contrasts with Ororon’s current negative development of the theme. Also, more snack sharing!

Chasca and Chuychu’s affection for one another is further developed through their excellent teamwork during the Fatui base infiltration. One of Chuychu’s flaws is also established: as a doctor, she cares for others before she cares for herself. This is mirrored in Chasca’s reckless tendencies due to her Abyssal affliction. They are both stubborn individuals, which is why they push each other’s buttons.

The ancient dragon civilization subplot continues here from the last act. Last time, we saw the ruins of the old civilization in the first layers underground, between a rift entrance to the Night Kingdom and the surface where Natlan’s human civilization lives. Now, we see their technology is potentially mirrored by a creation of the Heavenly Principles.

Capitano’s previous involvement and relationship to Natlan, elaborated on in later acts.

Ororon: People can lie, but souls cannot. I can tell there’s a weight to your soul, a sense of justice.

Act IV: The Rainbow Destined to Burn

“Light can refract into countless colors, but people stop at seven because they're too lazy to count. Perhaps the elements are like that, too.” Achievement: Colors of the Rainbow, Namecard description

Themes: “No one fights alone”*, legacy*, debt, facing the impossible, despair and the fear of death, fate**

*repeating themes from Act I **repeating theme from Act II

Concepts Introduced:

Bidii (Devotion): Ororon’s Ancient Name, also held by Sanhaj (Cataclysm Era).

“Sleep”: Not really a new concept in lore, but defined in a new way - the Lord of the Night says that sleep is how they extended their existence as long as they have.

The Lord of the Night (pt. 2): Yohualtehcutin, an “Angel” (Seelie) who created the Night Kingdom at Ronova’s command. They refer to Natlanese as their “children.” The Lord of the Night would dispassionately offer their own death to reconstruct the Ley Lines if that was what Mavuika wished.

Natlan is full of callbacks to Enkanomiya, and this is no exception. In the 2.5 main event, Three Realms Gateway Offering, Tsumi says something similar about the Dainichi Mikoshi:

Tsumi: This tower seems to hear my wishes... I just need to think the thought and it will change its brightness. Tsumi: And if I so desire, it will collapse before me. Tsumi: With the cognitive equivalent of a click of the fingers, I could destroy this source of great pain for the vishaps. Tsumi: So why... why can't I do it...?

In the Remuria world quest, Sybilla was said to “lack a persona,” which is what led to “Phobos” destroying Remus’s civilization:

"Phobos": Sybilla's wish was to grant happiness to all in the world who are called humans. But she had no persona, and her strength was insufficient. "Phobos": Thus, she entrusted her wisdom to Remus, and with the addition of the power that Remus possessed, the "Symphony" [Phobos] was created. That is to say, me. Cassiodor: No, how can this... Cassiodor: So, the music we have played all this time, and the fate we accepted... That all came from you... "Phobos": Yes, it is "me," but it is also "all of you"! "I" am also "you all." I am the aggregate of all your wishes. Cassiodor: Eliminating our enemies, destroying other lives, destroying cities and villages... Are these also our wishes!? "Phobos": Precisely! That's what "you" wished for, and so "I" responded. Plunder, hatred, slaughter... These too are part of "your" wishes. "Phobos": Is that not what it means to give "everyone" happiness?

Xbalanque and Natlan’s rules: The first Pyro Archon who established Natlan’s “rules,” which are upheld through the traditions of the Ode of Resurrection and the Pilgrimage. That is, these traditions are the “rules.” That they have ceased to function indicates a high level of meddling.

Ronova: “The Ruler of Death,” or the shining Shade of Death who helped Xbalanque establish Natlan’s rules.

Phlogistion (pt. 2): The primordial elemental energy the Heavenly Principles used to fashion the elemental energy of the Human Realm to counter the Abyss.

Degrees of the Curse of Immortality (unofficial): Capitano alludes to Dainsleif finding a way to reduce the Curse of Immortality’s effects on him. This concept was sort of hinted at in Caribert part 1 anyway, since Chlothar found a way to die. My speculation: it’s got something to do with Time!

Pyro Archon (pt. 2): When a human ascends to the Pyro Archon’s divine throne, their “inner flame” awakens, the size of which “depends on their potential.” Ascending also awakens their ability to use Ronova’s power, but her power won’t alter like the inner flame does depending on the individual’s tolerance for it.

Ancient Names (pt. 3): Forging an Ancient Name is “an act of creation” that comes at the expense of the forger’s life force. Doing this for an Outlander seems to come at a more significant cost than otherwise.

Baraka (Blessing): Xilonen’s Ancient Name, previously held by Sundjatta (Cataclysm Era).

Haborym: The demon name for the Pyro Archon.

Vuka (Transcension): Chasca’s Ancient Name, previously held by Menilek (Cataclysm Era).

Mark of Gosoythoth: An Abyssal Tumor that’s impervious to attacks, unlike past ‘tumors’ the Traveler encountered. These are considered part of the “black sun”’s body.

“Fragments” behind the False Sky: Still faintly visible in Natlan’s sky after this act’s conclusion, these fragments are speculated to be a deceased Moon Sister’s remains.

Main Plot:

This act does many things, not easily reduced to a paragraph summary. On a character level, it establishes Capitano’s fatal flaw and best qualities: his honor and sense of justice. It establishes the material threat of Abyssal invasion outside of optional lore readables and passed down stories. It raises the stakes of victory even further by establishing Mavuika's life as one of the costs. It lays a few crumbs about how the final showdown in Act V might go, and how the Traveler might avert the worst timing of this fated outcome. It also hints that Capitano may play a part in averting this fate. Lastly, it visually pays off a four year old lore bit that has haunted veteran players since 1.1: “the stars, the sky..it’s all a gigantic hoax. A lie.” For more detailed summary:

As Mavuika suspected, using the Source Mechanism is just a proxy for the Gnosis contingency plan with the same price, so Mavuika says we gotta smash it. Xilonen, Kinich, Mavuika, and the Traveler head to more dragon ruins to catch up with Capitano and Ororon. As the latter two turn on the device, Ororon is overwhelmed by agony and gets possessed by a spirit very familiar with Capitano. The spirit chides The Captain for defending Ororon and losing his chance to implement the plan. 

Inside his head, Ororon struggles with the meaning of his existence as he finds the will to cling to his life again. Guthred, the Khaenri’ahn soul inhabiting his body, tries to trick him into submission so that he can serve his own obsession with fighting at Capitano’s side. Mavuika’s consciousness creates an opening for Ororon to escape the fog, and he returns to the waking world.

“Hero” is not a fate determined at birth, but a potential to fulfill on one’s own terms. By realizing this, Ororon awakens as the hero of the Masters of the Night-Wind, earning Sanhaj’s acknowledgment and inheriting his memories. By using the Source Mechanism, Capitano and Ororon also awakened Yohualtehcutin, the Lord of the Night. They reveal that they are the “Angel” that sustains the Night Kingdom; with the power infused in them from the Source Mechanism, they offer their life as a sacrifice to recreate Natlan’s Ley Lines from scratch. Mavuika and Capitano argue over the merits of this path, with Capitano in favor due to the regret and guilt he feels for surviving Khaenri’ah’s fall, and Mavuika against it because it would fail to end the cycle. For now, they agree to a temporary alliance given one more part of Mavuika’s plan was set in motion through Ororon. The Traveler asks the Lord of the Night a few Lore Questions™ about Ronova, the Loom of Fate (LotN approves), phlogiston, and their Ancient Name.

Back at the Stadium, Mavuika has questions of her own for The Captain. He first learned the secret of the Gnosis from Ayizu, a former chief of the Masters of the Night-Wind who fought with him during the Cataclysm. After returning to Natlan to assess Mavuika’s progress on the oath, Capitano’s men combined the research results of Aberewaa, Bosomtwe, and Cuxtal to locate the Source Mechanism. His priority is saving Natlan; the Tsaritsa’s goal is secondary to this, and he isn’t worried about her reaction to his personal mission here. Once the six heroes are united, Mavuika can use Ronova’s power only once against the Abyss.

Xilonen and Citlali meet with the Lord of the Night to discuss the Ancient Name dilemma. Forging a Name for an outlander will cost Xilonen her life (it’s not immediately clear if she means her life or a significant amount of her life force), but she's determined to follow through. Citlali also shares her concerns about Mavuika’s plan; when she used a ceremony to peer into Mavuika’s future, she glimpsed death, the price of borrowing Ronova’s power:

Citlali: She's not the type of person to just quietly accept her death! Citlali: The Traveler shares that quality. That's why I think this gamble is worth it. Together, I know they can overcome the impossible, be it fate... or death.

Before going back to sleep, the Lord of the Night gives them the Pilgrim’s Chronicle. This will act as a vessel for Natlan’s memories of the Traveler so that they can forge the Ancient Name. Shortly after giving it to the Traveler, The War begins.

Each player’s experience with the war is unique and depends on the choices they make throughout the gameplay. Certain combinations of choices will result in more deaths than others—the “chain reaction” Mualani talked about in the last act. Each choice has a cost, and it’s impossible to help everyone. The gameplay uses endless enemy waves, excruciatingly slow air travel, and “anxiety” measurements like Abyssal corrosion levels, black clouds over the map, and casualty counters to contribute to the player’s sense of desperation and hopelessness. As the Traveler zips around Natlan fighting the Abyss, the sky darkens with clouds and night falls. And then shit goes from bad to worse.

A “black sun” rises into the purple sky from the Sacred Flame and opens tens of Abyssal wormholes in close proximity to one another. It rains down crystallized “branches,” the Mark of Gosoythoth, that are resistant to elemental attacks, thereby providing permanent gates from the Abyss to Teyvat. The Flower-Feather Clan is hit with the brunt of it, and the Traveler encounters a severely injured Chuychu and Chasca near the Stadium. They try to purify the Abyssal energy out of her, but it's too late and Chuychu succumbs to her wounds. Chasca almost flies into a rage, but she manages to calm down on her own; this will to transcend her pain awakens Chasca as the hero of the Flower-Feather Clan.

With all of the heroes awakened, Mavuika gathers them in the Stadium so that she can ascend as Natlan’s “sun.” Each hero recites the words they heard upon awakening, and Mavuika gains Ronova’s power. With this power-up, the Marks of Gosoythoth are no longer impervious, and the Ode of Resurrection’s power extends to all Natlanese.

Mavuika uses Ronova’s power to punch the black sun back into the Night Kingdom  — and in the process, she reveals one of the Heavenly Principles’ best-kept secrets:

(sound of Wanderer laughing in the distance)

The long night is over, but one more fight remains, and the Traveler has to face it with Mavuika alone. She shares a vulnerable moment with them at the victory feast, lamenting the same things as everyone else - a lack of time, a lack of ubiquity, and the limits of the individual. In the end, her goal is an “eternal peace” for Natlan. Is such an outcome really possible?

In her realm of consciousness, Mavuika revisits more conversations and says all of her ‘lines’ in the fragmented conversations. She revisits Xbalanque’s pact with Ronova, where she requested his silence about her complicity in his plan. In the Speaker’s Chamber, the Traveler asks Mavuika more Lore Questions™. Beneath the earth, Capitano visits the Lord of the Night again. He beseeches their help to face his “final foe,” which perhaps means Ronova herself.

Subplots/analysis:

Ororon’s guilt is resolved, ending his negative development of “No one fights alone.” Through Ororon, Natlan makes a clear argument against any one individual being responsible for the good of the collective – rather, it is each person’s responsibility to rise to the occasion, generation after generation.

Kunnau: Savior? Hah, sounds nice, doesn't it? But, does such a person truly exist? Even if they do, why would you have to become that person?

Capitano and Mavuika’s disagreement reflects Khaenri’ah’s divergence from the rule of the Seven. Capitano’s position can be described by one of Hoyo’s favorite themes to repeat through all of their IPs: “no matter the cost.” It encompasses the extremes people are willing to go to for their survival; in Capitano’s case, he sees the memories and culture recorded in the Ley Lines as a small price to pay for Natlan’s survival. He thinks this way because he understands the cost of losing your homeland forever. Mavuika sees this as short-sighted, because paying this enormous price will do nothing to actually beat the Abyss back so that this new generation would have a chance to live in peace. The cycle will just repeat itself eventually.

Mavuika’s duty to Natlan—her “debt,” if you will. Alongside this is the debt she owes to Ronova for borrowing her power. My pet theory is that “fate,” as Lord of the Night describes here, has an analogue in Alhaitham’s description of “gray areas” in Act V of Sumeru’s AQ:

Yohualtecuhtin, Lord of the Night: Don't forget, Citlali... Even if it may seem like someone is fated to die, the nature of death and fate are different. Yohualtecuhtin, Lord of the Night: Fate indicates what will happen in the future — the time, manner, and place are all predetermined. But, death is different. Death is a rule. [...] Yohualtecuhtin, Lord of the Night: The Ruler of Death cares little for the time and manner of a death. She simply guarantees that it will occur. Yohualtecuhtin, Lord of the Night: Fate may be able to influence the timing, but that is all the Traveler can change.

Alhaitham: Imagine if you've been using a device like the Akasha since the day you were born. And this device has always supported you during times of need... Alhaitham: After all that time, what do you think you'd become? Paimon: Uh... A fool? A machine? Alhaitham: A slave to orders. Alhaitham: And that's why rules are so important. Alhaitham: In addition, those who understand the rules can delineate boundaries, and identify gray areas. Paimon: Hmm... but why would you need to identify the gray areas? Alhaitham: You could say that those kinds of ambiguous zones can be very interesting. One might even say they're advantageous in the right hands...

Perhaps more accurately, the gray areas are Descenders. If the Traveler can influence the timing of Mavuika’s impending death, in effect changing her “fate,” if not the outcome, then they can obey Ronova’s “rule” without sacrificing Mavuika in the war. But that’s just a theory.

The heart-breaking conclusion of Chuychu and Chasca’s subplot. Chuychu laments the ways they misunderstood and regrets that her love for Chasca, expressed through worry and nagging, could have made things harder for her than they already were. Chuychu tried every trick up her sleeve to help Chasca manage her rage before she could do anything reckless. Without her, Chasca has to learn to manage it on her own. Chasca’s arc illustrates the value of suffering and struggle, painful as they might be, as things that shape us but don't define us.

Finally, there’s Capitano’s “debt.” His debt to his fallen comrades and lost homeland, his debt to Ayizu, who never hated him for being Khaenri’ahn, and conversely the debt Ronova owes to him, his death. 

“The Captain”: For the sake of those countless lost souls, and a hope for Natlan’s future…I need your help.

Interlude: All Fires Fuel the Flame

Themes: Despair and fear of death, deceit/illusions, facing the impossible

Concepts Introduced:

Gosoythoth: The “black sun”’s name, “Reaper of the Abyss.” 

Abyssal Corrosion Syndrome: A severe case of Abyss exposure that amplifies the patient’s fears and delusions. The illness has degrees of severity, with the worst cases marked by a total loss of perception of reality.

Draught of Lucidity: A medical treatment for the most severe Abyssal Corrosion Syndrome cases, developed by Guthred, the soul who in-dwelled Ororon. While this will cure their hallucinations, the patient will suffer severe chronic migraines for the rest of their life. It has a deep blue, shining color.

“Death”: The ‘rule’ that Ronova presides over - according to Capitano, she can even define the ‘form’ that “Death” takes, meaning it may not be limited to its human definition. Maybe an interesting way to think of what it means to be “granted” immortality?

Ancient Name (pt. 4): The Traveler isn’t allowed to be present when Xilonen asks for everyone’s memories of them because she needs their true thoughts and feelings.

Main Plot:

This one’s pretty short and sweet, but also allows some subplots from Act IV some breathing room before the action of Act V. This act develops Iansan as a caring and attentive coach who views each client holistically, which helps her deal with each case appropriately. It explores the dimensions of Abyss-induced fear as a form of “mental illness” and delineates some means to counter it, as well as the “cost” of those methods. Finally, it raises the drama surrounding Capitano's personal motivation to save Natlan without disclosing the details of his plan.

The Traveler heads to the Flower-Feather Clan and teams up with Iansan to deal with the aftermath of the war. There, they find three severe cases of Abyssal Corrosion Syndrome: Atoco, whose fear has mentally returned him to a childhood memory; Cochitta, who is paralyzed by her fear of the Abyss; and Ocotlan, who thinks he’s still out fighting the Abyss. The Traveler’s purification power does nothing to ease it. Iansan proposes a case-by-case approach, since no cure from their historical records exist.

Atoco’s case is resolved by reenacting his childhood memory to completion, similar to what was done in the Thelxie event. The Traveler indwells a Qucusaur to play the “role” of Duarte, Atoco’s deceased saurian companion, guiding Atoco out of his “ocean” of fear. 

Cochitta fears losing her family to the Abyss, which motivates her to fight – in her delusional state, the fear becomes full-blown despair that her actions are futile, and the Abyss is indestructible. Her case is resolved by demonstrating that her fear is baseless by defeating some Abyss monsters; in other words, her concrete actions dispel an illusion.

Iansan: Most people say the first step is the hardest. But, it's not actually all that hard. Exaggerating the difficulty in your own head is where the fear comes in. Iansan: "I'll never get it," "Might as well not try”... I hear that kind of talk all the time. But, if you break your goal into smaller parts, the first steps might actually turn out to be the easiest.

Ocotlan’s case is not as simple. His steadfast resolve to fight becomes exactly what makes his Abyssal Corrosion Syndrome case so severe—you guessed it, it’s his fatal flaw. To treat it, Capitano and Iansan give him the Draught of Lucidity. When Octolan’s consciousness returns, he describes his previous state as a “strange dream.”

Capitano elaborates on his personal mission and his reason for fighting. Due to his honor and sense of justice, he regards his role in the war 500 years ago as a failure; again, he references the debt he feels he owes to his fallen comrades and Natlan. His goal remains a secret, but involves bringing Natlan’s souls a lasting peace. Using the gardener metaphor from Shadows Amidst Snowstorms, Capitano compares Khaneri’ahns to “weeds” in the eyes of the Heavenly Principles.

Back at the Stadium, Xilonen asks for the Pilgrim’s Chronicle and everyone’s memories of the Traveler, which will form the basis of their Ancient Name. End scene!

Subplots/Analysis:

Iansan makes a case against extreme ways of thinking, marked by words like “never,” “always,” and “impossible.” In Teyvat, these extremes are embodied through the diametrically opposed Abyss and Heavenly Principles. In this case, she is referring to the Abyss and its despair as limiting thoughts that obscure the details to maintain a facade of insurmountability. “Defeating the Abyss” is a vague goal, but breaking it into smaller, concrete goals that build towards “Defeating the Abyss” as an outcome is more manageable.

Capitano, like Khaenri’ah, symbolizes the indomitable human spirit and the will to face the impossible. In this way, he is not so different from Mavuika. His conversation with the Traveler solidifies that he will play a crucial role in Act V and changing Mavuika’s fate:

"The Captain": Her power is a rule in and of itself. Faced with such an overwhelming level of power, it can feel hopeless to resist. "The Captain": But, I am of the belief that, in this world, no destiny is unchangeable, no death inevitable, and no rule unbreakable. "The Captain": ...So, before the final moment truly arrives, we must fight harder than ever.

That’s it! I know there’s more than this, but I am tired and can’t stare at this document any longer. Might edit some more before Tuesday night. Good luck avoiding spoilers, and screw your head on tight before Act V.

[genshinnrambles]

Archon Quest Chapter V Notes - Act I and Act II

“The victors will burn bright, while the losers must turn to ash.”

Just wanted to do some review before the finale and organize all of the ideas presented so far in each act. Each act’s themes, introduced concepts, main plot, and sub plots as I saw them are summarized, with some denoted speculations. This post contains all AQ content from version 5.0, or Act I and Act II. I’ll post notes for 5.1 and 5.2’s acts in a couple of days.

Spoilers: Well, it’s in the title. You’ve been warned!

Act I: Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn

“Flowers” are frequently used as a metaphor for lives in Genshin (“Flower of Life” artifacts, “The Song Burning in the Embers,” the gardener metaphor from Shadows Amidst Snowstorms)

"Our forebearers carved 'miracles' into obsidian rock, yet future bearers looked upon them and saw 'strength.'" The miracles of the past become the motivations of the present. The limitations of the past become the breakthroughs of today... “

Themes: “No one fights alone”*, legacy, memory, and forgetting*, the meaning of strength, mutualism and partnership between humans and “nature,” the cruelty of war and the Abyss

(My favorite motif of “no one fights alone” is the generosity characters exhibit with food and drinks. C: )

*These themes are overarching to all of Chapter V, but are more prominent in some acts and less in others. 

Concepts Introduced:

Ancient Names: A name gifted by the Wayob of an individual tribe to a tribe member. Not everyone gets to be an Ancient Name bearer, and they are essential to the Pilgrimage. Ancient Names are also not unique to each individual, but rather “legacies” that are passed down through generations of Natlanese. Each Ancient Name bearer also holds a feather-shaped obsidian stone, with their Ancient Name (sans vowels) written on it in the Abyss script. It preserves their accomplishments as memories. Ancient Names perish with their bearer if they fall in the Night Warden Wars.

A “flower of life” and her “plume of death.”

The clear analogue to this concept is Vision bearers, who enjoy a certain amount of privilege respective to “ordinary people” in society, though having a Vision can be seen as a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask:

Paimon: ...Then, you're saying this stone doesn't have any actual power? Like, it's not gonna make Paimon super strong or smart? Pacal: None at all, and that is precisely how it exercises its unique value. Kachina: Think of it this way... If you become a hero because the heavens granted you strength, are your triumphs earned or given?

Uthabiti (Resilience): Kachina’s Ancient Name.

Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame: A tournament to determine the strongest warriors of the present to fight in the Night Warden Wars. Participation is restricted to Natlanese and consists of two stages, a team stage and an individual stage. In other words, Natlan values both team and individual strength, seeing both as essential to victory.

Night Warden Wars: A battle between the strongest Ancient Name bearers of the Pilgrimage and the advancing Abyss, which Natlan is constantly at war with due to the special circumstance of their Ley Lines.

Saurian companions: Each tribe has a special relationship with a specific Saurian type, and humans live alongside Saurians in Natlan. Saurians are also partners in combat for some Natlanese.

Wayob: The “will” of each tribe that dwells in the Night Kingdom, symbolized by the obsidian totem. 

Pyro Archon: In Natlan, humans ascend to this role due to the rules Xbalanque wrote for the nation. Mavuika was also the Archon during the Cataclysm.

Kachina: I do know this, though — even after becoming the Pyro Archon, the person in the position still grows old and requires rest.

Phlogiston: Primordial elemental energy (formally stated in Act IV). 

The Sacred Flame: Provides Natlan with protection from the Abyss, fueled by Contending Fire collected from battles during the Pilgrimage. Outlander participation in the Pilgrimage does not generate Contending Fire, hence their being barred from the tournament.

If Ancient Name bearers are analogous to Vision bearers, then are Outlanders in the context of the Pilgrimage analogous to people from outside of Teyvat? If so, could the analog to the Pilgrimage tell us something about the nature of Teyvat? Personally, I think the underlying mechanism of the Vision system and the boon it provides to Celestia lies in this story.

The Ode of Resurrection: A song with the power to resurrect fallen Ancient Name bearers in the Night Warden Wars, provided there is at least one survivor to return from the Night Kingdom. The Pyro Archon steps into the Sacred Flame to retrieve them.

The Night Kingdom: The liminal space between body and mind, life and death. Comparable to the space below the Celestial Nail in “Perilous Trail.” In other words, it’s not quite the Abyss, but rather the “boundary” between the Abyss and Teyvat. In other words, it’s the Ley Lines of Natlan.

Abyssal corrosion/wounds: Technically corrosion is a pretty old concept by now, but in this context we learn about it as a potential cost in Natlan’s war against the Abyss. Corrosion stays in the body and restricts an individual’s ability to participate in things they used to do with ease, let alone participate in the Pilgrimage again.

Here, Abyssal corrosion is a metaphor for injury in the line of battle, which can leave both physical and emotional scars. 

Abyssal Pylon: A gate between the Night Kingdom and Teyvat that allows Abyssal creatures to pass into Teyvat.

Main Plot:

This act establishes several key concepts and largely serves as a worldbuilding and set up act. We learn about the shared traditions and customs between the six tribes, which center on the Wayob, Ancient Names, the Night Kingdom, and the meaning behind the “nation of war.” 

The Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame is being held in the Stadium of the Sacred Flame to collect Contending Fire and send another wave of warriors to the frontlines against the Abyss. Kachina of the Children of Echoes learns to value her will and achieves her dream of winning the tournament; her reward is to fight alongside the strongest warriors in the Night Warden Wars. While she’s away, the Traveler goes with Mualani to the People of the Springs and meets Atea, who sustained an injury from the Abyss in a past Night Warden War. Mualani, the Traveler, Marokau and Hikueru plan a party for Atea at the old hot springs she frequented before her injury and work together to renovate it, but the Abyss attacks the People of the Springs overnight. After finding Atea injured at the old hot springs, the Traveler remembers way back in Mondstadt when they purified Dvalin’s tears and tries that super cool power out again on Atea’s festering injury. Atea reveals to the Traveler and Mualani that her fate is sealed, and she only has a few days left; she leaves them with a “relic” to give to Mavuika, which “embodies fond memories and [her] strength of will.”

“Life is a journey in which there’s no turning back, so forge ahead and don’t hold back.”

Subplots:

Kachina’s struggle to assert her will (strength), which culminates in her defeating Mualani in the tournament

Kachina: "The key to winning is in the strength of the team captain," that's what everyone says. But, uh... the difference in strength between bearers can practically be night and day. Kachina: Mualani, I... I really want to win this time. I want to win this Pilgrimage and become a true warrior!

Phlogiston and the unique position Natlan occupies in relation to the rest of Teyvat.

The price of the endless war against the Abyss. Though it’s the greatest honor in Natlan to participate in the Night Warden Wars and emerge victorious in the Pilgrimage, the cost is cases like Atea’s or the erasure of an entire legacy if an Ancient Name bearer falls. The ultimate cost, then, is the erasure of all of Natlan if they ever fail in the war.

The weight of legacy and the importance of memory is central to Mavuika’s character. The ultimate cost of the war is unacceptable to her.

Act II: Black Stone Under A White Stone

Here, “Black Stone” refers to the Obsidian in the Night Kingdom.

Themes: Sacrifice, regret, “the shape of time” (another name for legacy), ideals vs. the real, fate

Concepts Introduced:

Abyssal cunning: another concept that isn’t quite new if you’re familiar with “Perilous Trail,” but since that’s optional content it counts. The Abyss can take on a form specific to each land’s memories to bring about destruction - this matches the Traveler’s past encounters with the Abyss, such as the Withering of Sumeru, the miasma of Chenyu Vale, the poisoned waters of Erinnyes, and the tumor beneath the Sacred Sakura.

Malipo (Turnfire): Kinich’s Ancient Name, once held by Burkina (Cataclysm era) and Yupanqui (Xbalanque era).

The Sea of Souls: The “unity” in the Ley Lines of all memories and emotions held by each individual on the land. Where individuality goes to die.

Spiritspeaker Stone: An artifact Citlali created to commune with the Wayob.

Wayna: As you probably know, your intended destination is completely different from the real world. The Night Kingdom is like a river flowing with "concepts," and the Ancient Name you seek is like a tiny fish swimming downstream. In that sense, the Stone is like a fishing boat drifting down the river.

“Concepts” (lol): fundamental ideas underlying a physical thing. The Night Kingdom is a realm of “concepts,” which is why it’s typically only visited through one’s consciousness. This is also why all descriptions of the Night Kingdom rely so heavily on analogy. These “ideas” need physical vessels to ground them in the real world.

Mualani: Wait, are you saying you're going to use a real net to "catch" Kachina's Ancient Name? How does that work when one's tangible and one's not? Vichama: By creating something tangible in our world — like a net — we can create a connection to a corresponding "concept" in the Night Kingdom. Basically, I'm going to use the "concept of a net" to catch something equally intangible — an Ancient Name.

Talismans/relics: Items that hold the memories and will of each of their owners, a symbol of the “legacy” theme. 

Mavuika: Most people perceive time as a linear concept, almost like a straight line that can only move forward. We cannot change the past or predict the future. But, there's also a different theory, one that I believe to be closer to the truth. Namely, that the "past," "present," and "future" all exist at once. [...] Mavuika: Let's say your journey ended right now. Thinking back on your experience in each nation, which one would you say was the most important? Traveler: I'd have to say all of them. Mavuika: Exactly. Even at the end of your journey, the things you experienced along the way don't cease to exist. They become part of who you are. Take out a portion of that journey, and you would likely make very different decisions, and eventually arrive at a very different destination. The future is the same way. It exists even though it has yet to come to pass. We just lack the means to perceive it. Of course, there are those with the power to foresee the future. They simply call it by a different name — "fate." You're quite familiar with that concept, I would imagine…

See also, all of the personal item stories in each playable character’s story page.

Umoja (Unity): Mualani’s Ancient Name, previously held by Tupac (Cataclysm Era).

Main Plot:

This act raises the Chapter’s stakes, creates suspense regarding the two unawakened heroes, and sets up future conflict between Mavuika and Capitano. It also establishes Mavuika’s greatest personal strengths (patience, empathy, humility, and long-term thinking) and hints at her fatal flaws (enormous sense of responsibility, tendency for self-sacrifice).

The Traveler and Mualani learn Kachina fell in battle, so they head to the stadium to partake in the Rite of Resurrection. However, something goes wrong and Kachina’s Ancient Name is lost in the Night Kingdom. Mavuika gathers an investigation team in the Speaker’s Chamber and lays out the stakes of the failed Rite of Resurrection, specifically the doubt it sowed in people’s hearts of the Pilgrimmage’s value. 

“[The Abyss’s] goal isn’t to break the rules that make the Ode of Resurrection work. It’s to destroy the people’s faith in them.”

In the presence of two of her awakened heroes, Mavuika discloses her plan to sacrifice her power to fuel the Sacred Flame a little longer. But before she can do that, Capitano shows up with a cryptic message about her plan and fights her for the Gnosis. After he flees, she sacrifices her remaining power to the flame. After she does this, a similar visual effect is produced as was seen in the Ignition teaser:

(I expect to see this effect again in Act V and learn its meaning, for now I can only speculate its related to one’s sense of self)

The Traveler, Mualani, and Chasca use the Spiritspeaker Stone, a net, and obsidian to salvage Kachina’s Ancient Name from the Night Kingdom with Vichama’s help. Vichama had hoped to salvage his own fallen friend’s Ancient Name as well, but the Spiritspeaker Stone is overwhelmed by the Abyss and Chasca destroys it. They return to Mavuika with Kachina’s Ancient Name to pinpoint her location in the Night Kingdom. When they conjure her image, she reveals that the reason the Rite of Resurrection failed is because the Wayob is being affected by the Abyss. They head to the Night Kingdom in their physical forms and discover ruins of the ancient dragon civilization on the way. 

Side note, this looks eerily similar to the “wheel” in Bottle Land, which um. Yeah. Loom of Fate, anyone?

(Also, there’s a leitmotif here from the room with the Celestial Nail in the Chasm)

They find a rift entrance and make their way through the hostile Sea of Souls under the protection of Vichama’s lost friend, Mallko. After finding Kachina, she leads them to the corroded Wayob’s totem to purify it. A pyro Abyss Lector intercepts them and talks a bunch of shit undermines the ideals they value to sow doubt and distract them from the totem, but Mualani concedes that while the ideals themselves may be meaningless, the actions that uphold them aren’t. Mualani awakens to her Ancient Name’s will and inherits Tupac’s memories.

The Abyss’s cunning is why it feels uncanny.

After purifying the Wayob, the rift out of the Night Kingdom closes and Mavuika’s consciousness saves them at the cost of every relic she kept in the Speaker’s Chamber. She discloses the truth that Natlan’s destruction is imminent, and that the events of the present were set in motion 500 years in the past. The price of their victory then was their faith in the customs used to fight back the Abyss. The first part of Mavuika’s plan, then, was to reunite the tribes and rebuild the Wayob’s strength, after which a “hero” would be selected from each tribe. Mavuika’s plan as it currently stands does not guarantee that each hero will awaken their Name - that is left up to fate.

Mavuika pays her own visit to a realm of consciousness and revisits several conversations with past figures, seemingly ruminating on the weight of her plan. “Voices of the Past” speak to her in a non-corporeal form, implying that these are past Pyro Archons.

(Acts shocked that this is exactly what she did to herself).

It concludes with a cliffhanger where Capitano speaks to someone who is out of frame, ostensibly his co-conspirator from the Masters of the Night Wind. Capitano believes this person will be useful for his own plan to counter Natlan's crisis.

Subplots:

Mualani’s survivor’s guilt, which is juxtaposed with Vichama’s survivor’s guilt. In Vichama’s case, his guilt was a symptom of his obsession with Mallko’s death and the delusion that he could ever bring him back, which is why the plan to rescue Kachina appealed to him so much.

Vichama: If I could do it all over again, I would have followed Mallko to the frontlines no matter what. Even with an injured leg, there were still things I could have done. That way... even if the outcome stayed the same, I still would have fought alongside him to the end. There are critical junctures in life, and if you don't seize the chance to act, there's no going back.

This brings to mind something Acheron said in Honkai: Star Rail:

“But you said, ‘Sleep is the rehearsal of death,’ so why does life slumber? Because we are not ready for the final rest. So you can definitely understand why we want to be prepared. Even if the ending has been predetermined, that's fine. There are countless things that humans cannot change. But before the end, there are many things that humans can do while on their journey. And because of this, the ‘end’ will thus reveal a completely different meaning.”

What Vichama is getting at is that fate had no bearing on his will, it didn’t matter if it couldn’t be changed because the journey to that end would still be different, and for him, more meaningful. This revelation empowers Mualani to move forward.

Mavuika’s connection to the Sacred Flame and Natlan’s memories.

Capitano's relationship to Natlan and personal motivations for seeking the Pyro Gnosis.

Chasca and Chuychu’s apparent difficulty communicating with each other and ability to understand one another. “Apparent” being the key word.

Also, Chasca’s survivor’s guilt.

Kachina's struggle to assert her own will to life, not as something that must match the legacy of her Ancient Name, but as a continuation of its story that belongs only to her.

[genshinnrambles]

Archon Quest Chapter V Notes - Act I and Act II

“The victors will burn bright, while the losers must turn to ash.”

Just wanted to do some review before the finale and organize all of the ideas presented so far in each act. Each act’s themes, introduced concepts, main plot, and sub plots as I saw them are summarized, with some denoted speculations. This post contains all AQ content from version 5.0, or Act I and Act II. Noted from versions 5.1 and 5.2 are here.

Spoilers: Well, it’s in the title. You’ve been warned!

Act I: Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn

“Flowers” are frequently used as a metaphor for lives in Genshin (“Flower of Life” artifacts, “The Song Burning in the Embers,” the gardener metaphor from Shadows Amidst Snowstorms)

"Our forebearers carved 'miracles' into obsidian rock, yet future bearers looked upon them and saw 'strength.'" The miracles of the past become the motivations of the present. The limitations of the past become the breakthroughs of today... “

Themes: “No one fights alone”*, legacy, memory, and forgetting*, the meaning of strength, mutualism and partnership between humans and “nature,” the cruelty of war and the Abyss

(My favorite motif of “no one fights alone” is the generosity characters exhibit with food and drinks. C: )

*These themes are overarching to all of Chapter V, but are more prominent in some acts and less in others. 

Concepts Introduced:

Ancient Names: A name gifted by the Wayob of an individual tribe to a tribe member. Not everyone gets to be an Ancient Name bearer, and they are essential to the Pilgrimage. Ancient Names are also not unique to each individual, but rather “legacies” that are passed down through generations of Natlanese. Each Ancient Name bearer also holds a feather-shaped obsidian stone, with their Ancient Name (sans vowels) written on it in the Abyss script. It preserves their accomplishments as memories. Ancient Names perish with their bearer if they fall in the Night Warden Wars.

A “flower of life” and her “plume of death.”

The clear analogue to this concept is Vision bearers, who enjoy a certain amount of privilege respective to “ordinary people” in society, though having a Vision can be seen as a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask:

Paimon: ...Then, you're saying this stone doesn't have any actual power? Like, it's not gonna make Paimon super strong or smart? Pacal: None at all, and that is precisely how it exercises its unique value. Kachina: Think of it this way... If you become a hero because the heavens granted you strength, are your triumphs earned or given?

Uthabiti (Resilience): Kachina’s Ancient Name.

Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame: A tournament to determine the strongest warriors of the present to fight in the Night Warden Wars. Participation is restricted to Natlanese and consists of two stages, a team stage and an individual stage. In other words, Natlan values both team and individual strength, seeing both as essential to victory.

Night Warden Wars: A battle between the strongest Ancient Name bearers of the Pilgrimage and the advancing Abyss, which Natlan is constantly at war with due to the special circumstance of their Ley Lines.

Saurian companions: Each tribe has a special relationship with a specific Saurian type, and humans live alongside Saurians in Natlan. Saurians are also partners in combat for some Natlanese.

Wayob: The “will” of each tribe that dwells in the Night Kingdom, symbolized by the obsidian totem. 

Pyro Archon: In Natlan, humans ascend to this role due to the rules Xbalanque wrote for the nation. Mavuika was also the Archon during the Cataclysm.

Kachina: I do know this, though — even after becoming the Pyro Archon, the person in the position still grows old and requires rest.

Phlogiston: Primordial elemental energy (formally stated in Act IV). 

The Sacred Flame: Provides Natlan with protection from the Abyss, fueled by Contending Fire collected from battles during the Pilgrimage. Outlander participation in the Pilgrimage does not generate Contending Fire, hence their being barred from the tournament.

If Ancient Name bearers are analogous to Vision bearers, then are Outlanders in the context of the Pilgrimage analogous to people from outside of Teyvat? If so, could the analog to the Pilgrimage tell us something about the nature of Teyvat? Personally, I think the underlying mechanism of the Vision system and the boon it provides to Celestia lies in this story.

The Ode of Resurrection: A song with the power to resurrect fallen Ancient Name bearers in the Night Warden Wars, provided there is at least one survivor to return from the Night Kingdom. The Pyro Archon steps into the Sacred Flame to retrieve them.

The Night Kingdom: The liminal space between body and mind, life and death. Comparable to the space below the Celestial Nail in “Perilous Trail.” In other words, it’s not quite the Abyss, but rather the “boundary” between the Abyss and Teyvat. In other words, it’s the Ley Lines of Natlan.

Abyssal corrosion/wounds: Technically corrosion is a pretty old concept by now, but in this context we learn about it as a potential cost in Natlan’s war against the Abyss. Corrosion stays in the body and restricts an individual’s ability to participate in things they used to do with ease, let alone participate in the Pilgrimage again.

Here, Abyssal corrosion is a metaphor for injury in the line of battle, which can leave both physical and emotional scars. 

Abyssal Pylon: A gate between the Night Kingdom and Teyvat that allows Abyssal creatures to pass into Teyvat.

Main Plot:

This act establishes several key concepts and largely serves as a worldbuilding and set up act. We learn about the shared traditions and customs between the six tribes, which center on the Wayob, Ancient Names, the Night Kingdom, and the meaning behind the “nation of war.” 

The Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame is being held in the Stadium of the Sacred Flame to collect Contending Fire and send another wave of warriors to the frontlines against the Abyss. Kachina of the Children of Echoes learns to value her will and achieves her dream of winning the tournament; her reward is to fight alongside the strongest warriors in the Night Warden Wars. While she’s away, the Traveler goes with Mualani to the People of the Springs and meets Atea, who sustained an injury from the Abyss in a past Night Warden War. Mualani, the Traveler, Marokau and Hikueru plan a party for Atea at the old hot springs she frequented before her injury and work together to renovate it, but the Abyss attacks the People of the Springs overnight. After finding Atea injured at the old hot springs, the Traveler remembers way back in Mondstadt when they purified Dvalin’s tears and tries that super cool power out again on Atea’s festering injury. Atea reveals to the Traveler and Mualani that her fate is sealed, and she only has a few days left; she leaves them with a “relic” to give to Mavuika, which “embodies fond memories and [her] strength of will.”

“Life is a journey in which there’s no turning back, so forge ahead and don’t hold back.”

Subplots:

Kachina’s struggle to assert her will (strength), which culminates in her defeating Mualani in the tournament

Kachina: "The key to winning is in the strength of the team captain," that's what everyone says. But, uh... the difference in strength between bearers can practically be night and day. Kachina: Mualani, I... I really want to win this time. I want to win this Pilgrimage and become a true warrior!

Phlogiston and the unique position Natlan occupies in relation to the rest of Teyvat.

The price of the endless war against the Abyss. Though it’s the greatest honor in Natlan to participate in the Night Warden Wars and emerge victorious in the Pilgrimage, the cost is cases like Atea’s or the erasure of an entire legacy if an Ancient Name bearer falls. The ultimate cost, then, is the erasure of all of Natlan if they ever fail in the war.

The weight of legacy and the importance of memory is central to Mavuika’s character. The ultimate cost of the war is unacceptable to her.

Act II: Black Stone Under A White Stone

Here, “Black Stone” refers to the Obsidian in the Night Kingdom.

Themes: Sacrifice, regret, “the shape of time” (another name for legacy), ideals vs. the real, fate

Concepts Introduced:

Abyssal cunning: another concept that isn’t quite new if you’re familiar with “Perilous Trail,” but since that’s optional content it counts. The Abyss can take on a form specific to each land’s memories to bring about destruction - this matches the Traveler’s past encounters with the Abyss, such as the Withering of Sumeru, the miasma of Chenyu Vale, the poisoned waters of Erinnyes, and the tumor beneath the Sacred Sakura.

Malipo (Turnfire): Kinich’s Ancient Name, once held by Burkina (Cataclysm era) and Yupanqui (Xbalanque era).

The Sea of Souls: The “unity” in the Ley Lines of all memories and emotions held by each individual on the land. Where individuality goes to die.

Spiritspeaker Stone: An artifact Citlali created to commune with the Wayob.

Wayna: As you probably know, your intended destination is completely different from the real world. The Night Kingdom is like a river flowing with "concepts," and the Ancient Name you seek is like a tiny fish swimming downstream. In that sense, the Stone is like a fishing boat drifting down the river.

“Concepts” (lol): fundamental ideas underlying a physical thing. The Night Kingdom is a realm of “concepts,” which is why it’s typically only visited through one’s consciousness. This is also why all descriptions of the Night Kingdom rely so heavily on analogy. These “ideas” need physical vessels to ground them in the real world.

Mualani: Wait, are you saying you're going to use a real net to "catch" Kachina's Ancient Name? How does that work when one's tangible and one's not? Vichama: By creating something tangible in our world — like a net — we can create a connection to a corresponding "concept" in the Night Kingdom. Basically, I'm going to use the "concept of a net" to catch something equally intangible — an Ancient Name.

Talismans/relics: Items that hold the memories and will of each of their owners, a symbol of the “legacy” theme. 

Mavuika: Most people perceive time as a linear concept, almost like a straight line that can only move forward. We cannot change the past or predict the future. But, there's also a different theory, one that I believe to be closer to the truth. Namely, that the "past," "present," and "future" all exist at once. [...] Mavuika: Let's say your journey ended right now. Thinking back on your experience in each nation, which one would you say was the most important? Traveler: I'd have to say all of them. Mavuika: Exactly. Even at the end of your journey, the things you experienced along the way don't cease to exist. They become part of who you are. Take out a portion of that journey, and you would likely make very different decisions, and eventually arrive at a very different destination. The future is the same way. It exists even though it has yet to come to pass. We just lack the means to perceive it. Of course, there are those with the power to foresee the future. They simply call it by a different name — "fate." You're quite familiar with that concept, I would imagine…

See also, all of the personal item stories in each playable character’s story page.

Umoja (Unity): Mualani’s Ancient Name, previously held by Tupac (Cataclysm Era).

Main Plot:

This act raises the Chapter’s stakes, creates suspense regarding the two unawakened heroes, and sets up future conflict between Mavuika and Capitano. It also establishes Mavuika’s greatest personal strengths (patience, empathy, humility, and long-term thinking) and hints at her fatal flaws (enormous sense of responsibility, tendency for self-sacrifice).

The Traveler and Mualani learn Kachina fell in battle, so they head to the stadium to partake in the Rite of Resurrection. However, something goes wrong and Kachina’s Ancient Name is lost in the Night Kingdom. Mavuika gathers an investigation team in the Speaker’s Chamber and lays out the stakes of the failed Rite of Resurrection, specifically the doubt it sowed in people’s hearts of the Pilgrimmage’s value. 

“[The Abyss’s] goal isn’t to break the rules that make the Ode of Resurrection work. It’s to destroy the people’s faith in them.”

In the presence of two of her awakened heroes, Mavuika discloses her plan to sacrifice her power to fuel the Sacred Flame a little longer. But before she can do that, Capitano shows up with a cryptic message about her plan and fights her for the Gnosis. After he flees, she sacrifices her remaining power to the flame. After she does this, a similar visual effect is produced as was seen in the Ignition teaser:

(I expect to see this effect again in Act V and learn its meaning, for now I can only speculate its related to one’s sense of self)

The Traveler, Mualani, and Chasca use the Spiritspeaker Stone, a net, and obsidian to salvage Kachina’s Ancient Name from the Night Kingdom with Vichama’s help. Vichama had hoped to salvage his own fallen friend’s Ancient Name as well, but the Spiritspeaker Stone is overwhelmed by the Abyss and Chasca destroys it. They return to Mavuika with Kachina’s Ancient Name to pinpoint her location in the Night Kingdom. When they conjure her image, she reveals that the reason the Rite of Resurrection failed is because the Wayob is being affected by the Abyss. They head to the Night Kingdom in their physical forms and discover ruins of the ancient dragon civilization on the way. 

Side note, this looks eerily similar to the “wheel” in Bottle Land, which um. Yeah. Loom of Fate, anyone?

(Also, there’s a leitmotif here from the room with the Celestial Nail in the Chasm)

They find a rift entrance and make their way through the hostile Sea of Souls under the protection of Vichama’s lost friend, Mallko. After finding Kachina, she leads them to the corroded Wayob’s totem to purify it. A pyro Abyss Lector intercepts them and talks a bunch of shit undermines the ideals they value to sow doubt and distract them from the totem, but Mualani concedes that while the ideals themselves may be meaningless, the actions that uphold them aren’t. Mualani awakens to her Ancient Name’s will and inherits Tupac’s memories.

The Abyss’s cunning is why it feels uncanny.

After purifying the Wayob, the rift out of the Night Kingdom closes and Mavuika’s consciousness saves them at the cost of every relic she kept in the Speaker’s Chamber. She discloses the truth that Natlan’s destruction is imminent, and that the events of the present were set in motion 500 years in the past. The price of their victory then was their faith in the customs used to fight back the Abyss. The first part of Mavuika’s plan, then, was to reunite the tribes and rebuild the Wayob’s strength, after which a “hero” would be selected from each tribe. Mavuika’s plan as it currently stands does not guarantee that each hero will awaken their Name - that is left up to fate.

Mavuika pays her own visit to a realm of consciousness and revisits several conversations with past figures, seemingly ruminating on the weight of her plan. “Voices of the Past” speak to her in a non-corporeal form, implying that these are past Pyro Archons.

(Acts shocked that this is exactly what she did to herself).

It concludes with a cliffhanger where Capitano speaks to someone who is out of frame, ostensibly his co-conspirator from the Masters of the Night Wind. Capitano believes this person will be useful for his own plan to counter Natlan's crisis.

Subplots:

Mualani’s survivor’s guilt, which is juxtaposed with Vichama’s survivor’s guilt. In Vichama’s case, his guilt was a symptom of his obsession with Mallko’s death and the delusion that he could ever bring him back, which is why the plan to rescue Kachina appealed to him so much.

Vichama: If I could do it all over again, I would have followed Mallko to the frontlines no matter what. Even with an injured leg, there were still things I could have done. That way... even if the outcome stayed the same, I still would have fought alongside him to the end. There are critical junctures in life, and if you don't seize the chance to act, there's no going back.

This brings to mind something Acheron said in Honkai: Star Rail:

“But you said, ‘Sleep is the rehearsal of death,’ so why does life slumber? Because we are not ready for the final rest. So you can definitely understand why we want to be prepared. Even if the ending has been predetermined, that's fine. There are countless things that humans cannot change. But before the end, there are many things that humans can do while on their journey. And because of this, the ‘end’ will thus reveal a completely different meaning.”

What Vichama is getting at is that fate had no bearing on his will, it didn’t matter if it couldn’t be changed because the journey to that end would still be different, and for him, more meaningful. This revelation empowers Mualani to move forward.

Mavuika’s connection to the Sacred Flame and Natlan’s memories.

Capitano's relationship to Natlan and personal motivations for seeking the Pyro Gnosis.

Chasca and Chuychu’s apparent difficulty communicating with each other and ability to understand one another. “Apparent” being the key word.

Also, Chasca’s survivor’s guilt.

Kachina's struggle to assert her own will to life, not as something that must match the legacy of her Ancient Name, but as a continuation of its story that belongs only to her.

[intogenshin]

Sumeru's war on Nietzsche (part 1)

One of the main themes of the Sumeru chapter is the victory of altruistic values over egoism, specifically the egoism in Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. 

I want to point out these connections so we can agree from the getgo on Nietzsche’s presence in the chapter:

Kaveh defeats nihilism in Parade of Providence, and the defeat of nihilism is one of the main goals of Nietzsche's philosophy

Achievements in the Khvaena of Good and Evil quest are named after Nietzsche quotes

Sumeru is mostly inspired by India, Iran and Egypt, and Nietzsche had a bone to pick with the philosophical influence of all three in the west

The themes of egoism and altruism are explored through the work of western philosophers and the philosophy of eastern religions, following the real life historical interrelation of both. And because the outcome of this confrontation favors altruism more, I also think it can be interpreted as a rejection of western values of individualism as a whole. 

Nietzsche has the leading role for this analysis for clarity's sake (or else it'd end up in 15k words) but the philosophical material used in the region is vast and varied. 

Egyptian influence

Nietzsche blamed Egypt for influencing Greek philosophers like Plato (public enemy #1 of Nietzsche) in his conception of goodness. Philosophers of ancient Greece would go on to influence western philosophy and institutions. 

Nietzsche thought that developing the idea of objective goodness which one should aspire to and be governed by is where the ancient Greeks went wrong as a society, disrupting the balance between the rational values of the god Apollo and the frenzy of the god Dionysus that made ancient Greece an ideal society in Nietzsche's eyes. The clash of order and chaos is what made Greek culture rich in his opinion, so introducing a code of ethics ruined the dichotomy. 

This concern with goodness was of course Plato's fault, who most likely was influenced by the Egyptian concept of Ma'at. Ma'at can basically be understood as a moral principle that guided both Egyptian society in its religious beliefs and its institutions. 

In Genshin Cyno’s character is inspired by the god Anubis and one of his main motifs is the scales, his personal drive is also the pursuit of justice and order. This is likely because in Egyptian mythology Anubis weighs the hearts of the deceased against the feather of Ma'at. 

So here we have the character inspired by Egyptian culture who personifies the ancient concept of morality that Nietzsche blamed for ruining a society he considered advanced. 

Indian influence

The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer was initially Nietzsche's role model, but he'd later become his biggest critic due to the ideas promoted by his philosophical system. 

Schopenhauer borrowed elements from dharmic religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) to construct his ideas, mainly the concept of Brahma (a universal consciousness which originated all creation and it therefore presents the world as a unity) and the concept of desires as the basis of suffering (therefore desires have to be suppressed).

Nietzsche considered this philosophical approach to be pessimistic, arguing that it easily led into nihilism. He thought similarly about Buddhism (although he held it in higher regard than Christianity) for being a religion that denies the self and devalues the world, only considering it a transitory illusion that had to be escaped. Nietzsche aimed for the complete opposite: giving value to the world as it was and indulging in one's own individuality, independent from collective constraints. 

In Genshin I think the concept of Brahma is close to the plot of the sovereign dragon Apep, who creates life that later goes back to it in Nahida's second story quest. Buddhist philosophy is covered in Wanderer's arc, which I analysed here. 

Iranian influence 

Iran and India share common ancestors, so their religious practices also have common traditions (such as the worship of nature), hence why they largely make up most of Sumeru’s inspiration. The ancient religion of Iran is called Zoroastrianism, things like the Akademiya darshans and the House of Daena are named after its religious principles, as well as the overall region where the quest Khvaena of Good and Evil takes place. 

Zoroastrianism was founded by Zoroaster, who conceptualized the world as a conflict between good (originated by the creator god Ahura Mazda) and evil (influenced by the entity Ahriman) where humans have free will to choose between the two. 

This cosmology would later influence the abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and, in Nietzsche's view, originate the western perception of morality he was critical of. 

He used the prophet Zoroaster (known in Germany as Zarathustra) as his own character in the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra to voice his ideas of a new kind of man that could overcome this morality that Europe had submitted to under the authority of Christianity. This way, since Zoroaster was the one to introduce morality to the western world, so would he be the one to denounce it. 

Historical context

The philosophical confrontation between egoism and altruism began in the aftermath of the French revolution, when European countries formed into republics. The threats of democracy, liberalism and socialism loomed over the aristocratic class and the societal status quo, which produced reactionary responses in the shape of individualism and egoism: the exaltation of the individual over the collective majority. 

Nietzsche himself took part in (and built his ideas around) this reactionary response, he argued that the purpose of society was producing culture, which could only be achieved by the subjugation of one class to support the elites who could produce the art that the inferior class was supposedly incapable of producing. He denounced democracy, the egalitarian cause of liberalism and the class equality of socialism of attempting against this purpose, and he used the altruistic values of religion as a scapegoat that collectively addressed the three.

Nietzsche's philosophy 

In this sense, Christianity was a method of control to suppress the individual from the basis of resentment —here's where the master and slave morality dichotomy he authored comes from: the subjugated class, in his theory, motivated by feelings of resentment and powerlessness against the elites, would develop values of humility, altruism and collectivism in order to morally place themselves above the “masters”. 

For Nietzsche, this dominating morality was limiting and produced no worthy culture or arts, and without a purpose society was doomed to fall into nihilism (a state of being devoid of meaning). He identified the pessimistic approach of eastern religion (like the influence they had on Schopenhauer) and the slave morality of western religion as the culprits of nihilism, as well as the conformity of the “last man” (as he called it) who didn't aspire to anything beyond what was imposed on him. 

Nietzsche's main existential problem with religion was the devaluation of the world and the individual, treating both as transitory towards a “beyond” where value was placed instead (Nirvana in Buddhism, Heaven in Christianity, etc), and he sought to return this value to life through the concept of the ubermensch (“overman” or “superman”): a man who would embrace existence as it is and redefine the values of society beyond morality with his own independent and individual values. 

So, to summarize, Nietzsche “blamed” Greek philosophy (which was influenced by Egyptian morality) and Zoroastrianism (the ancient religion of Iran) for the Christian dominating morality of Europe, as well as eastern dharmic religion for influencing western philosophy and leading society into nihilism. In his view, religion (and its morality) was a method of control that had to be overcome to return value to the individual. 

The setting of the Akademiya

The Akademiya's original Chinese name is Sumeru Institute of Religious Decree, which means it acts as a religious institution that treats religion and education as one and the same. This church of knowledge also grants power to its elite class (formed on the basis of academic merit) who rules the nation as an extension of the god of wisdom. 

The Akademiya plays three roles of authority at the same time: spiritual, educational and political, all three which serve as a means to control and shape the values of the population. The Akademiya decides which knowledge has worth and which material is allowed to be learned, it decides which faith in which god has value or is allowed to be practiced, and it decides who occupies positions of political authority and who can access the education necessary for class mobility. 

In short, the Akademiya is a form of governance that has the power to define and limit the values of society: its rules, beliefs, morals, ethics, hopes and even its dreams.

However, unlike Nietzsche's assessment, it's egoist values that dominate Sumeru under the Akademiya's guidance. 

The culture of the Akademiya separates people into the ordinary and the extraordinary, those who live in submission and those who stand out. There is no community between scholars, only associations where each party must benefit for the duration of the projects they collaborate in, then they are terminated. 

"Relationships are merely a byproduct in this exchange of interests. They may be pleasant and captivating, but they can only ever be secondary. When scholars collaborate to solve difficult problems, we freely share our knowledge and resources with one another, as if we were all kin. However, this collaboration ends after the results of our work are published. The reason is simple: We are scholars, and there are new projects that await our attention."

This type of association described in Nilou's story quest seems very similar to Max Stirner’s Union of Egoists, an idea he proposed as an antithesis to communal society where individuals conceptualized each other as “property” that either has or doesn't have use in one's life.

As Paul Thomas summarized, Stirner believed that “we should aspire not to the chimera of community but to our own “one-sidedness” and combine with others simply in order to multiply our own powers and only for the duration of a given task.”

Egoism and God

Max Stirner was the first philosopher to publish work on egoism with The Ego and Its Own in 1844, his influence on Nietzsche is contended due to the similarities in the foundation of their ideas. 

It was Stirner who first presented the concept of the death of god, meaning that society could no longer hold on to religious beliefs disproved by the scientific advancements of the Enlightenment. Nietzsche would later coin the phrase “god is dead”, and both identify man as the killer, although Stirner argued that the god of religion had been replaced by the god of humanistic values and Nietzsche proposed for man to become god himself.

Here's Stirner's quote (The Ego and Its Own, 1844):

At the entrance of the modern time stands the "God-man." At its exit will only the God in the God-man evaporate? And can the God-man really die if only the God in him dies? They did not think of this question, and thought they were through when in our days they brought to a victorious end the work of the Illumination, the vanquishing of God: they did not notice that Man has killed God in order to become now—”sole God on high." The other world outside us is indeed brushed away, and the great undertaking of the Illuminators completed; but the other world in us has become a new heaven and calls us forth to renewed heaven-storming: God has had to give place, yet not to us, but to—Man. How can you believe that the God-man is dead before the Man in him, besides the God, is dead?

Here's Nietzsche's quote (The Gay Science, 1882):

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

Both likely drew from the work of Ludwig Feuerbach on religion as a projection of human ideals into divine attributes. For example, omnipotence reflects human desire for control and power, while omniscience reflects human thirst for knowledge and aspiration to overcome ignorance. 

Sumeru’s ubermensch 

The plot of the Sumeru chapter presents a nation in the aftermath of the death of their god, Lord Rukkhadevata. The political class struggles to accept the new god left in her place, as she's far from representing the ideals of wisdom they aspire to project on their archon, and thus fails to provide meaning for scholars’ quest for knowledge. 

The sages then set out to manufacture an artificial god with their collective human wisdom, a projection of themselves in the vessel of a god, transcending all established ethical (and moral) boundaries. 

The vessel for this artificial god has his own motivations, which in the fairy tale that stores his memories it's depicted as such:

They essentially create an artificial ubermensch capable of redefining values, but the real ubermensch is found behind the artificial god itself.

Crime and punishment

Nietzsche called Fyodor Dostoevsky the only psychologist he had anything to learn from, as he was deeply influenced by the psychology of his novels —of which he read botched translations that didn't quite transmit the author's philosophy, but still. 

The novel Crime and Punishment has a protagonist that represents the opposite of the author's beliefs, who happens to be quite similar to Nietzsche's idea of the ubermensch or the higher man. This character justifies his crime (a murder) to himself arguing that people are divided into the ordinary and the extraordinary, and the extraordinary have the right to commit crimes if it allows them to put forward their extraordinary contributions to the world. 

From Crime and Punishment:

“Ordinary men have to live in submission and have no right to transgress the law, because, don't you see, they are ordinary. But extraordinary men have a right to commit any crime and transgress the law in any way, just because they are extraordinary.”

“...if the discoveries of Kepler and Newton could not have been made known except by sacrificing the lives of one, a dozen, a hundred, or more men, Newton would have had the right, would indeed have been in duty bound…to eliminate the dozen or the hundred men for the sake of making his discoveries known to the whole of humanity. But it does not follow from that that Newton had a right to murder people left and right to steal every day in the market.”

The protagonist sees himself as an extraordinary man, therefore, his murder is justified in contribution made to the world in exchange. 

For Nietzsche, who sees life conditioned on the dominance over the life of others, a criminal is a man whose primordial human impulses to exercise power, which in the ordinary men have been suppressed by the dominating morality, have found an unconventional outlet through crime. Thus, a criminal is a symptom of a sick society that has domesticated itself out of its own nature.

The criminal as a glorified outcast, a rebel against modern society whose abhorrent behavior is a healthy instinct that denotes potential —at least symbolically, he wasn't calling out to people to commit crimes per se. 

While Dostoevsky wrote the protagonist of his novel to struggle with guilt in the form of an illness and allowed him to find salvation in facing punishment for his crime, Nietzsche holds the criminal in high regard, seeing guilt as something beneath him. 

This archetype is popular in media with characters like Hannibal Lecter, and indeed, many fans of the game expected Alhaitham or Scaramouche to fulfill it, but the character that truly embodies the outcast genius is The Doctor.

Dottore commits crimes against others to carry out his plans, never feeling guilt or shame. He was expelled from the Akademiya precisely for violating the ethical code all scholars are governed by and, as Nietzsche's ubermensch, aims to redefine the values of the world by collaborating with the Tsaritsa to “burn the old world.” 

However, Dottore is the antagonist of the chapter, and the attempt at manufacturing the artificial god is depicted as an act of hubris, not a brave crusade against the restraining morality of religion. Furthermore, both the sages and Scaramouche face punishment (in their own way), something Nietzsche would disapprove of in an appropriate higher man. 

Looking back on the Akademiya, the scholars seem to suffer under the culture of egoism and competition so well established in the institution. 

They're often disoriented in their life, contrasting with the villagers who know themselves and their place in the world. 

And the god the sages had dismissed as unworthy is reinstalled as the archon, maintaining the institution as it was while taking down the Akasha, the method of control of the sages. 

Nietzsche’s egoism is rejected by the narrative, it raises and it falls in the course of the chapter, but what does this mean for the region?

Part 2 will examine how the narrative engages with the philosophies of altruism and how both egoism and altruism converge in the characters of Alhaitham and Kaveh

[trashcanlore]

A Crack Theory About Maze

Alternatively: Everyone in Natlan is dead and I can prove it with 3 easy tools I already have in my brain

*Record scratch* I bet you're wondering how we got here. Well, it all started when I was playing through Simulanka and saw the carpet on the floor of Constellation Metropole. The pattern reminded me of player piano scrolls, and since my brain needs to be studied in a lab, that then reminded me of Westworld. (Slight spoilers for season 1 follow)

Westworld is a sci-fi-ish TV show about a futuristic amusement park recreating the Wild West, featuring interactive storylines where guests can act out their hearts' darkest desires. The only ‘people’ hurt are the hosts, who are basically the android NPCs of the park. Hosts are part of greater park narratives, and individually operate within their story loops, unless disturbed by the outside forces of guests. At the end of each day, the hosts are reset/memory wiped/repaired (unless the narrative says differently) and return to experience the horrors anew. The player piano is used as a visual and narrative motif throughout Westworld to represent the cyclical and automated lives of the hosts; similarly, the clockwork in Constellation Metropole represents the strictly laid out paths of the toys while under the ‘protection’ of the Goddess of Prophecy. 

Convinced this carpet pattern was an intentional reference, and knowing that summer events foreshadow the new region, I flung myself headfirst into themes and narratives delulu (a season 1 rewatch) and during that rewatch I realized that a different Westworld plot point and visual motif might be what's actually foreshadowing for my mostly vibes-based theory: Everyone in Natlan is dead.

THE MAZE

The imagery of a humanoid figure in a maze is used throughout Westworld, explained within the narrative of the park as a Native American myth. According to the in-park mythology, the maze represents “the sum of a man’s life,” and the man in the center has been killed and resurrected many times, eventually building the maze around himself as protection. (Resurrection is a very common theme in Indigenous American mythology.) There is a human character who is trying to solve the maze, and for a time he believes the center of the maze is true death, something that does not exist in the park because the guests cannot be killed (by the hosts) and the hosts can always be repaired.

This myth is based on the real life creation myth of the Tohono O'odham people, where the Man in the Maze, I’itoi, created the world in an intense struggle and then retired to a labyrinthian cave on top of a mountain. In art, I’itoi is depicted above a maze, which represents the experiences and choices of a person throughout their lives. The middle of the maze represents their goals and dreams, and once they reach the center, they can look back and then pass into the next world.

According to some tellings of the myth, I’itoi was killed by the humans he created and taught. He then resurrected himself, invented the concept of war, and then brought the Tohono O’odham people to the surface of the earth to be his soldiers. 

Fun fact: This creation story is actually referenced in ZZZ, with the Papago hollow (Papago is an alternate name for the Tohono O’odham people).

In Westworld, the maze is actually a thought exercise and model developed by the programmer behind the park hosts. His theory of consciousness was that it was achieved through a journey inward, and when a host reached the center of the maze, they would achieve true consciousness and be ‘free.’ 

Maze iconography in the Americas is not unique to the Tohono O'odham people - another notable example is the Hopi Tapuat. This labyrinth (technically only has one path) represents the human life cycle and eventual (spiritual) rebirth.

While researching maze symbolism, I read a few articles that mentioned Mesoamerican mazes being used to trap the spirits of the dead, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any specific source for that information. However, it is possible to connect maze imagery to the Aztec and Mayan beliefs about the Underworld. Multiple archaeological excavations have uncovered huge networks of caves, tunnels, and rooms underground that may have been built to represent the journey to the underworld and/or provide a location for rituals associated with death. (You can read more about this here: 1 2 3)

As for the underworld itself, both the Aztec Mictlan and the Maya Xibalba are described as containing all kinds of traps and challenges for the dead passing through - and can’t forget the ballcourt (in Xibalba at least). Ball is life. While this isn’t exactly a maze, I will argue that for the sake of this crack theory, it’s close enough thematically. 

Smoke and Mirrors

You may have recognized the name Mictlan, because in Genshin, that’s one of the names for the Masters of the Night-Wind tribe, which can be alternatively translated as “Masters of the Mysterious Smoke.” This will be relevant later, I promise. 

The Natlan craftable sword, the Flute of Ezpitzal, is described as being a ritual instrument of this tribe, and the description tells the story of how humans and dragons came to a (local?) agreement to ensure their survival. The dragons had fled into dreams because of the fire of “ancient beacons,” and when the humans asked for their protection, they offered the following: 

"A labyrinth of mirrors and a fortress of mist, these shall we build to shield your tiny mortal tribes from the scourge of war." 

The theme continues with the name of the sword’s passive: “smoke-and-mirror mystery,” and the upcoming Archon Quest “Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors.” The phrase “smoke and mirrors” is an idiom for distracting from something unpleasant, but in the context of Natlan lore, it’s almost certainly referring to the smoking obsidian mirror iconography. 

Mirrors of all kinds were used throughout ancient Mesoamerica for divination and scrying-like rituals, including communication with otherworld entities. The most well known mirror material used was obsidian, which was also used for blades and tools - the black color of obsidian is probably what led to its association with smoke (also you can use mirrors to start fires). Obsidian mirrors were associated with additional imagery such as fire, the sun, eyes, butterflies, and caves as the entrance to the underworld. Mirrors were also compared to the surface of still water (a straightforward comparison) - one interesting example is Aztec writing that referred to Aztlan (mythical origin of Aztec people) as ‘the great water mirror that surrounds the great city.’ There was even a period of time where the mirror was used as a metaphor to represent the world itself. 

This is similar to what Mona says about Simulanka: fate in Simulanka is directly based on Teyvat’s, and that “the creator made this world inside a mirror, or a lake, and this world is the reflection.” 

Here’s where things start to get interesting: there is a Nahuatl glyph for the smoking obsidian mirror, specifically associated with a god who we’ll discuss later. The scroll-like shape used for the smoke is very similar to the symbol used for speech, singing, or breath.

This shape is also very similar to the older Mayan glyph for smoke - which happens to be basically identical to the symbol used for blood. You can see an example here in this famous carving from Yaxchilan:

The link between smoke and blood is actually explicitly referenced in the name of the Flute of Ezpitzal. Ezpitzal is a Nahuatl word meaning ‘gust of blood’ - eztli is blood and pitza is ‘to blow,’ as in playing a flute. Pitza is also sometimes translated “becoming inflamed with anger.” The ezpitzal symbol is made up of six streams of blood, ending in a precious stone, with a heart in the center:

The ezpitzal can be found flowing from the head of older depictions of Tezcatlipoca “smoking mirror,” the Lord of the Night. 

The Lord of the Night

Tezcatlipoca is one of the central Aztec gods, associated with the night sky, hurricanes, and conflict, and the calendar. He was typically depicted with a missing foot due to a monster attack and a smoking obsidian mirror somewhere on his body. The missing right foot is usually replaced with a smoking obsidian mirror, a snake, or a bone. Tezcatlipoca has similarities to the earlier Maya deities Tohil (god of fire and associated with sacrifice) and K’awiil (thunder god), who is depicted with a smoking obsidian knife in his forehead and one leg replaced with a snake. 

The smoking mirror glyph associated with Tezcatlipoca looks a little bit like the obsidian carvings in the Night Kingdom:

Besides for the title of Lord of the Night, Tezcatlipoca is Genshin lore relevant as the rival of Quetzalcoatl. In one version of the Five Suns Aztec creation myth, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl are creation gods and take turns being suns and destroying each other’s work. Quetzalcoatl hasn’t been mentioned by name in Natlan yet, but his Maya equivalent, Kukulkan (“Plumed Serpent”), also known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan (“War Serpent”) sure has. In Genshin, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, or the Sage of the Stolen Flame, stole a seed of phlogiston from the dragons and taught the humans how to use it. He is shown alongside Xbalanque, the first Pyro Archon, on a mural, where they both appear to hold phlogiston. There’s something important missing here: How did the Genshin equivalent of Tezcatlipoca contribute to the ‘creation’ of humans?

In the 5.1 trailer, the Lord of the Night and the “protection of the rules” are mentioned. The only information we have about the Lord of the Night is that in the misleading Records of Hanan Pacha, he leads humans astray and is the enemy of Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, and that a cat in the Night Kingdom warns us against trusting the Sage.

The set of rules we know the most about are the ones created by Xbalanque, using borrowed power from the heavens (Ronova). These are the rules that allow humans to become Archons and inherit the memories of the land. 

The other, more mysterious set of rules, are those that allow Ancient Name bearers to resurrect through the Sacred Flame with the help of the Archon. The Sacred Flame is a conduit to the Night Kingdom and the Wayobs, and is fueled by Contending Fire produced by battles between Natlan people. Given that Tezcatlipoca is a god of conflict, I think these rules mentioned in the trailer are referring to the Sacred Flame system of resurrection. 

Therefore, at some point during Natlan’s history, the beef between the Sage and the Lord of the Night became so severe that the Lord of the Night’s contribution to the system of Natlan was intentionally covered up- which may be what Capitano is hinting at in the 5.1 trailer when he says Mavuika is withholding information from us. 

This was a bit of a tangent, but I promise it’s relevant to the thesis. At the conclusion of the Five Suns myth, Quetzalcoatl descends into Mictlan to find the bones of the humans he created under earlier suns, and who were destroyed by various god antics, including those of Tezcatlipoca. He then uses his own blood to bring the humans back to life. Maybe my insistence that everyone in Natlan is dead isn’t so vibe based after all. 

The Center 

It is time for me to confess something. In actuality, these 2k words were elaborate setup for a pun. 

Here it goes: At the conclusion of the K’iche’ Maya creation story, the Popul Vuh, the gods finally find the perfect material for creating humans who will worship them: maize. The hurricane god and the Quetzal serpent sculpt the first humans out of a maize paste, with water for blood. Conveniently, these two can be directly compared to Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca - further supporting the possibility of the latter’s important role in Natlan’s history. 

Earlier, I mentioned how water and mirrors were closely associated, and how the glyphs for blood and smoke look similar. The Flute of Ezpitzal name and lore reference the protection of humans with a ‘labyrinth of mirrors,’ smoking mirrors (weapon passive), and blood through the word ezpitzal. The ezpitzal is also closely linked to Tezcatlipoca, one of the Aztec creator deities. Using this symbolism, the smoke and mirrors represent the water, or blood, used to (re)create humans. Which then means of course that the second ingredient needed for humans is maze - I’m sorry, maize. 

And if the humans are made out of maze…well then they must be dead. 

Sabre’s Fun Fact Science Corner (with bonus Latam literature section just for Schwan):

The Genshin writers love the story of the Hero Twins defeating Seven Macaw and replacing his teeth with maize - they’ve referenced it at least three times so far. The weirdest is the flipped version where the human priest Maghan sacrifices himself and combines his blood with animal teeth and dirt to create grainfruit (maize). Autosacrifice of blood in particular was a very important Maya ritual. I appreciate their commitment to keeping the maize cannibalism implications going.  

The Narzissenkreuz Ordo associated lore has had multiple references to circular ruins and mirrors (which may simply just be the Alice in Wonderland reference) - however, we do know that one Ordo member went to Natlan looking for Something. “The Circular Ruins” is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges where a man tries to create another man through dreaming, with the help of a deity known as “Fire.” The story itself references Through the Looking-Glass as well. 

This one is full credit to Schwan but there’s a Mexican novel Pedro Páramo, which was very influential on other Latin American writers like Gabriel García Márquez. The plot is basically that this guy travels to the town where his father is from to meet him and then it turns out that everyone in the town is dead. It’s very core. 

It turns out Westworld season 1 is extremely HYV core - I just know some guy there saw the last episode and had their brain rewired, much like Dawei seeing Misato Evangelion for the first time

References: https://www.library.pima.gov/content/man-in-the-maze/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27itoi https://westworld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Maze

The Curious History of Mazes

New clue to Tezcatlipoca - the ezpitzal

The meaning of ancient Mexican smoking mirrors, especially for the Aztecs or Mexica

Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture - Wikipedia

Tezcatlipoca - Wikipedia

Five Suns - Wikipedia

Quetzalcōātl - Wikipedia

Over a hundred lintel relief sculptures depicting scenes from royal life survive from Yaxchilán.

[snowdinstars]

going insane about the fontaine archon quest again

they really gave us That Cutscene. the god of justice dances one last time beneath the blade of the guillotine she spent her entire life constructing for herself. she knew the greatest justice she could give to her people and the world was her own death. and so she smiled as the blade fell, taking her final bow, knowing her work was done.

and her mortal avatar dances with her. not with her in person, but with her in spirit. with this last dance, she is free. they both are.

and the dragon weeps. the sky weeps with him. he carries her wish to the sky, and honors her final justice with his verdict.

and the people are saved, their sin absolved. they will never know of what it cost

guys im very normal i promise. i am not bouncing off the walls. i am normal i am fine

[genshinnrambles]

noticed this similarity between capitano and the blazegem inscription

so I was re-watching the cutscene in the natlan archon quest because the Genshin Impact youtube channel posted it last night, and I noticed something:

I had just played Act II of the Children of Echoes-focused story quest before rewatching the cutscene, and the symbol on Capitano's chest jumped out at me given the similar shape to Tlazolli's Blazegem Inscription in the screenshot on the right.

Some light speculation under the cut:

An important caveat: the symbol on Capitano's chest and the Blazegem Inscription are mirror images, they are not exact copies. It's a subtle difference, but you can see it if you look at the way the loops fold over each other.

What could this mean? Full disclosure, no I have not finished every world quest and explored all of Natlan yet lol. It's possible I am missing some really damning evidence for what this could mean, but I'll go off of what I've completed so far. The Blazegem Inscription is made with the same techniques used for Ancient Name forging, though from my understanding it isn't an Ancient Name in and of itself. It's draw is it's ability to resist erosion and preserve what's engraved on it throughout time.

So why is a similar symbol on Capitano's person? There's been some speculation that Capitano has more direct ties to Natlan, and to be honest I was pretty skeptical of those theories until the cutscene with Mavuika. Capitano talks about a couple of things that seem oddly specific and, if I may, personal about Natlan: the oath made five centuries ago, the ley lines destined for ruin, Mavuika's plan (also made 500 years ago), and Natlan's "rules." And Mavuika concurs: "But it sounds like this is about more than the Tsaritsa."

I have not touched a lot of world quests that deal with Xbalanque, but I understand that as the first Pyron Archon he is the one who fashioned Natlan's "rules" that allow for humans to ascend as Archons. Maybe it's not weird for Capitano to have some understanding of that, but it still strikes me as odd given everything else he seems to know.

Another small observation is that almost every Fatui harbinger we've dealt with has had some kind of personal connection to the region we encounter them in. Not so much for Childe or Signora in Liyue (Pantalone arc in Liyue DLC when), or Signora in Inazuma and Scaramouche in Sumeru, but there is precedent in Signora appearing in Mondstadt, Scaramouche in Inazuma, Dottore in Sumeru, and both Arlecchino and hints of Sandrone in Fontaine (Arlecchino's crimson moon dynasty origins not withstanding). All of this yapping is to say, Capitano's evidently otherworldly and uncanny qualities aside, he may have more direct ties to Teyvat and to Natlan specifically.

And another thing - why is Olorun from the Masters of the Night Wind collaborating with him?

[genshinnrambles]

I was watching MurderofBirds' new Natlan theory video (go check it out, it's 🔥) and noticed Capitano's design seems to have undergone some slight changes from A Winter Night's Lazzo. To be expected, since that trailer is a little over two years old. but the design for the blazegem inscription-like thing is still there, except it's a more exact copy in terms of the looping pattern

does this really mean anything? no, but I thought it was cool and wanted to point it out.

[genshinnrambles]

noticed this similarity between capitano and the blazegem inscription

so I was re-watching the cutscene in the natlan archon quest because the Genshin Impact youtube channel posted it last night, and I noticed something:

I had just played Act II of the Children of Echoes-focused story quest before rewatching the cutscene, and the symbol on Capitano's chest jumped out at me given the similar shape to Tlazolli's Blazegem Inscription in the screenshot on the right.

Some light speculation under the cut:

An important caveat: the symbol on Capitano's chest and the Blazegem Inscription are mirror images, they are not exact copies. It's a subtle difference, but you can see it if you look at the way the loops fold over each other.

What could this mean? Full disclosure, no I have not finished every world quest and explored all of Natlan yet lol. It's possible I am missing some really damning evidence for what this could mean, but I'll go off of what I've completed so far. The Blazegem Inscription is made with the same techniques used for Ancient Name forging, though from my understanding it isn't an Ancient Name in and of itself. It's draw is it's ability to resist erosion and preserve what's engraved on it throughout time.

So why is a similar symbol on Capitano's person? There's been some speculation that Capitano has more direct ties to Natlan, and to be honest I was pretty skeptical of those theories until the cutscene with Mavuika. Capitano talks about a couple of things that seem oddly specific and, if I may, personal about Natlan: the oath made five centuries ago, the ley lines destined for ruin, Mavuika's plan (also made 500 years ago), and Natlan's "rules." And Mavuika concurs: "But it sounds like this is about more than the Tsaritsa."

I have not touched a lot of world quests that deal with Xbalanque, but I understand that as the first Pyron Archon he is the one who fashioned Natlan's "rules" that allow for humans to ascend as Archons. Maybe it's not weird for Capitano to have some understanding of that, but it still strikes me as odd given everything else he seems to know.

Another small observation is that almost every Fatui harbinger we've dealt with has had some kind of personal connection to the region we encounter them in. Not so much for Childe or Signora in Liyue (Pantalone arc in Liyue DLC when), or Signora in Inazuma and Scaramouche in Sumeru, but there is precedent in Signora appearing in Mondstadt, Scaramouche in Inazuma, Dottore in Sumeru, and both Arlecchino and hints of Sandrone in Fontaine (Arlecchino's crimson moon dynasty origins not withstanding). All of this yapping is to say, Capitano's evidently otherworldly and uncanny qualities aside, he may have more direct ties to Teyvat and to Natlan specifically.

And another thing - why is Olorun from the Masters of the Night Wind collaborating with him?

[genshinnrambles]

i might be insane but did anyone notice in capitano's fatui introduction it said "the first of the eleven fatui harbingers"? i haven't gone through the story in detail yet i mught be hallucinating 💀

you did not hallucinate! it is even more evidence pointing towards the veracity of a theory that Pierro, as the director, is in fact "Number 0" of the Harbingers. The biggest in-game hint towards this before the Natlan AQ was the Salsa world quest series in Fontaine.

[monkeydoespride]

How Chenyu Vale's Murals Compare to those at Tsurumi and Dragonspine

Source for some stuff

Today we are going to be taking a look at the murals of Chenyu Vale compared to the ones present at Dragonspine and Tsurumi Island. Basically a remake of my first post about Genshin lore (which can be found here). We will not, however, be talking about the fish mural as it is both incomplete and lacks any features which compare well to the murals of other locations. Finally stick around at the end as I discuss some of my favorite submissions from others over the past year as well as things I would love to see others make analyses on. I also apologize for the wall of text you will (hopefully) be reading through.

Dragonspine Murals:

Image 1 (Dragonspine Frontal Mural)

Image 2 (Dragonspine side murals)

Tsurumi Island Murals

Image 3 (Tsurumi Electro seelie front mural)

Image 4 (Tsurumi Electro seelie left mural)

Image 5 (Tsurumi Electro seelie right mural)

Image 6 (Tsurumi wall torches mural)

Image 7 (Tsurumi ceiling mural)

Image 8 (Tsurumi star torch puzzle mural)

Chenyu Vale Murals:

Image 9 (Chenyu Vale nail mural)

Image 10 (Chenyu Vale Chiwang jade piece mural)

Image 11 (Chenyu Vale Fujin rainjade mural)

The Story the Vale’s Murals Tell:

Unlike the murals at Dragonspine or Tsurumi, we actually know for certain what scenes are being depicted in 2 of the 3 Vale murals (Images 10 and 11), with the meaning of the third (image 9) being almost certain thanks to information from other sources (but remember we cannot call it absolute without a direct reference). However, seeing as they were only discussed briefly during a world quest, I feel it to be beneficial to recount them here so this may better serve as a reference.

Mural One (Image 9):

This first mural is almost certainly a depiction of Chenyu Vale’s founders migrating to the Vale from the Chasm after Celestia dropped a Divine Nail on it. In fact this image perfectly corroborates with part of the story told in the description of the Jadefall’s Splendor weapon (paragraph 3 and the first sentence of paragraph 4).

Mural Two (Image 10):

This mural is a depiction of the Vales Emissary of the Gods communicating with the heavens via a large piece of Jade (likely the same piece of Jade found at Chiwang Terrace). We know this because of dialogue given by Little Mao in the third part of the Chenyu Vale world quest.

Mural Three (Image 11):

This mural is a depiction of Fujin performing the Rainjade Rite. We know this because we were told by Fujin herself in the third part of the Chenyu Vale world quest.

Comparisons:

For this section we will be looking at how different aspects of these murals compare to one another. But instead of dividing it into two sections, one for similarities and one for differences. We will instead be looking at them under the themes of colors and stylization. With both themes done under the umbrella of comparing and contrasting.

Use of Color: 

The biggest difference between the Chenyu Vale murals and the ones at Tsurumi and Dragonspine is the Vale’s use of colors. With a total of 7 different colors used across all three murals being a major leap compared to Tsurumi and Dragonspines 3. But what does this difference actually mean with regards to the people who lived within these civilizations and the information these murals are trying to give? For this I will be looking at two different possibilities I feel people may come up with and sharing my thoughts about them.

1. Lack of Preservation: The first possibility that came to mind for this discrepancy is that the murals in Chenyu Vale have simply survived the march of time better than the ones at Tsurumi and Dragonspine. However this cannot be right because if all 3 sets of murals were originally brightly colored, those at Chenyu Vale should actually have the worst preservation status of them all. Every Vale mural is located in a damp, likely humid environment filled with plant life. An absolutely horrid environment for preservation compared to the cool arid conditions of Dragonspine or the more temperate conditions of Tsurumi. Not to mention the murals of both Dragonspine and Tsurumi have been sealed behind locked doors for thousands of years before the arrival of the Traveler.

2. Cultural Differences: The second possibility that came to mind is that this is simply a case of cultural differences. The fall of the Unified Civilization gave rise to a civilization that constructed what the community calls Triquetra Ruins. It has long been my belief that the creators of these ruins are the shattered remnants of the Unified Civilization. Due to this independence, their culture begins to shift away from the Unified in some places while remaining the same in others. Something which can be seen most prominently in the various structures only found in single locations. Such as the domed buildings around Mingyun Village. With that in mind, I’d see it as highly likely that the people of Chenyu Vale saw great importance in the vivid colors due to how different it was to their previous home within the Chasm. That’s not to say the Chasm isn’t colorful, it very much is. But the colors of the Vale are very bright and the colors of the Chasm are very dark. This idea is supported even further by the fact that we know Divine Nails absolutely devastate the local ecosystems into which they are dropped. Meaning that these people likely lived without much color for some time before migrating. Making the colors of the Vale worth celebrating even more.

Overall these additional colors help create a new level of depth towards one's understanding of the murals themselves, allowing for someone to more easily recreate what is occurring in their head. But how does this compare to the usage of colors with regards to the other sets of murals? Well let’s have a look!

Compared to Dragonspine: The murals on Dragonspine use colors very very simply. Every color is done very solidly and uses no gradients whatsoever (Note that while there is fading of color present, most easily visible on the right green triangle of image 1, this is almost certainly due to decay and likely does not reflect its original state). A very stark contrast to those at Chenyu Vale in which every single section utilizes some form of gradient/blending. Additionally, the colors present on Dragonspine are much brighter and more present. With each depicted image standing out well on its own. A very different look compared to the softer colors at Chenyu Vale that make each mural look incomplete if any part is removed.

Another object of note is the use of a specific color for emphasis. In this case yellow, which is used to highlight both beings and more importantly, Celestia. Something not really seen on Chenyu Vale. Which instead denotes importance more through size than coloration.

Compared to Tsurumi Island: Just as with Dragonspine the murals on Tsurumi Island use coloration very simply, relying instead on the boldness of the colors to show a scene. However, unlike both Dragonspine and Chenyu Vale, some of the murals on Tsurumi Island use color to portray realism instead of style. The three electro seelie murals (Images 3,4,5) have patches of smudged/blended green that help to show what lines are actual surfaces, and what lines represent simple cracks in the rock (it's hard to get the lighting good to see them well in an image so I would recommend taking a look yourself). In fact this representation of realism is the only use of green on these murals. Unlike both Dragonspine and Chenyu Vale, which use green within their more symbolic imagery to represent land, Tsurumi Island instead uses yellow to fill in its (likely to be) mountains (Images 6 and 7). Why this is and what it could mean is a topic for either a different analysis, or another person.

Stylization:

The second item of comparison we will be looking at today is the various differences in how the same things are depicted across these three regions. More specifically, we will be looking at the differences and similarities between how objects in the sky, the ground itself, and living things are represented. While at a quick glance they may look the same, each one has enough differences to make me retype this sentence from a few to a lot because of how large this section has gotten. Before we start, I want to make it clear that this is a comparison between 3 distinct locations, as such, some things must be taken strictly within their own context. Low quality in Chenyu Vale is going to be different compared to low quality at Tsurumi or Dragonspine.

Objects in the Sky:

 Chenyu Vale: As I’m sure most of you are well aware, the Chenyu Vale murals have some pretty important skyward representations. The depiction of the celestial nail dropping upon the Chasm has done wonders with regards to event confirmation within the Chasm’s timeline. It’s also just kinda cool to actually be able to look at and see things that were very big deals in this culture's ancient world (even if it is fictional), like with the Chiwang Jade Piece. But as important and interesting as that is, here in Chenyu Vale, completely unlike Tsurumi and Dragonspine, the sky does not seem to be the main focus. Every depiction of something in the sky has been done far more simply compared to the land and living beings. There is basically no color grading (the exception being the representation of the Chiwang Jade piece in Image 10) Additionally, the designs are far more simplistic compared to the representations of the ground and living things. Something best shown by comparing the detail put into representing a river vs the sky in Images 9 and 11. This simplicity, however, should not detract from the impact they provide to the murals whole. They still tell a part of the story. In the nail mural (Image 9), the red lines emanating from the Chasm as the nail drops show that the nail's destruction of the land likely began as soon as it was dropped. In the Chiwang Jade mural (Image 10), the lines of air/wind emanate away from the jade piece itself, likely to show the sheer power the jade exuded. And finally in the Rainjade mural (Image 11), the wind arcs over and under the piece of jade being used to perform the rite. Likely to try and show just how important the ritual was to these people.

Compared to Dragonspine: Dragonspines skyward objects are by far the most limited in number of these three locations. But this by no means makes there nothing to look at. The most common skyward design on Dragonspine is visualization of the wind. Which can be found in both of the murals. It’s also a rather unique aspect of the murals as a whole in that it seems to be the only aspect that is depicted more realistically than stylistically. It is of course impossible to depict wind completely realistically given that it’s invisible. But a closer look shows that these lines are both scaled realistically, they are also drawn in a more complex manner. The best way to see this is to compare the wind lines in Image’s 1 and 2 to each other. You’ll notice that unlike almost everything else in the murals, they are made entirely of parts wholly unique to that specific mural. Which is not at all common compared to the other aspects as most of those reuse at least one part found in another section.

As mentioned when we were talking about Chenyu Vale, the murals on Dragonspine and Tsurumi are very much focused on skyward objects. For Dragonspine, given that we have two murals, we have two main focuses. The most obvious of these is on Image 2. Where above the large mountain sits what is obviously a stylized depiction of Celestia. Of which its locations directly above the mountains likely ties into the fact that Sal Vindagnyr was for a time in essentially direct contact with Celestia. The skyward object on the mural in Image 1 however, is a total mystery. One not helped by the large section of said mural that has deteriorated away into nothingness. I have no clue what this is as there is nothing even remotely similar in any other mural from any other region. But what I can say with relative confidence is that it was likely supposed to be the centerpiece of this mural.

Compared to Tsurumi Island: When it comes to skyward objects, Tsurumi is obviously the most plentiful. Here, only one mural lacks any skyward objects (Image 5). And one has only a single instance (Image 4) Of the remaining four, two have them as important aspects, but not the central focus (Images 3 and 6). One is almost entirely skyward objects (Image 7). With the remaining mural being composed of only skyward objects (Image 8). Showing that skyward objects clearly held great importance within this civilization’s culture.

Going even further into detail, the objects present break down into 3 categories, wind, stars, and moons. Wind can be found on 4 murals (Images 4, 6, 7, 8). Stars on 3 (Images 6, 7, 8). And moons on 3 (Images 6, 7, 8). Additionally, on Image 3 there is a depiction of Celestia.

The wind motifs are in the same style as those found in Dragonspine, our first indication of a possibly shared past culture. But it’s the stars, moons, and Celestia which really stand out. Unlike any other skyward object in any other mural, these representations have been gilded. Meaning they had immense importance to the culture that created them.Additionally, all depictions of a moon have lines around them showing said moon to be radiating some sort of power. Something very similar to how skyward objects indicate items of importance within Chenyu Vale’s murals. Finally, these objects show a distinct lack of mirroring with regards to their placements within these murals. Something that is quite common within the Chenyu Vale’s murals and the center mural on Dragonspine (Image 1). But here on Tsurumi, proper mirroring can only be found in one place. That being the very bottom strip of Image 7. Now the mirroring on Chenyu Vale’s murals is by no means exact, but there is enough of it to require more than a quick glance. Why this asymmetry is present on Tsurumi’s murals. I don’t know. But as is often the case with me, I thought it worth mentioning.

The Land:

Chenyu Vale: Our second subsection is how land/water  is rendered within these 3 locations. Of which it is certainly convenient that Chenyu Vale is the most recent location, as it is certainly the most unique. Even more so with the fact that the Nail mural (Image 9), is done slightly differently compared to the other two. So where better to start!

Anyways, land/water in Image 9 has only been drawn in on places where it tells part of the story. From left to right we have the Chasm, what is most likely a river, and then what is almost certainly Chenyu Vale itself. All other land has been replaced with black background. The gradients consist solely of warm colors and separated by thin golden lines, if those lines are even there at all such as on the river or Chasm. Now the lack of boldness on these lines could be attributed to wear, as this mural seems to be in the worst condition out of the three. But it doesn’t provide a reason as to why the Chasm and river almost completely lack them. 

In the second mural (Image 10), things are a little bit different. Now only the sky and the land separating the mountains that appear deep in the background has been colored black. Additionally, cooler colors have been added to the gradients. With a correlation between coolness and elevation being very evident. Finally, the golden lines that separate more extreme changes in color are present in every single section, instead of just some of them. Why this change occurred I cannot say for sure. But if I were to guess I’d say it’s because more time has passed since these people had arrived in the Vale then with the previous mural. Meaning they were able to style the murals exactly how they wanted.

The only real difference between Image 10 and Image 11 is the perspective. While Image 10 has a very stylized perspective that does not scale well with the other items in the mural, Image 11 shows actual depth. This is most easily seen with how the river appears to curve around the outcropping on the right hand side. Another item of note is the fact that the hills that are found on the right hand side are using warmer colors in their gradients as opposed to cooler ones. This was likely done to better achieve the sense of depth discussed earlier. As those colors do not blend in the slightest, allowing for a better showing of distance.

Compared to Dragonspine: After that absolute wall (among many) of text. Dragonspine is a lot simpler. This is because there are a grand total of 2 different kinds of land representation. The first, and most common, is extremely stylized mountains colored in green. With each mountain having three stylized plants within them (or crop motifs as I called them in the first comparison I did) that exist in two distinct styles. Those being the full version and the partial version. The full version, seen best in Image 2, shows the heads of all three crop motifs in full. Properly showcasing the fact that the center stalk is slightly different in design from the two side ones. The partial version, found only on the left and right sides of Image 1, shows only the tops of each motif, making them all appear the same. The other kind of land representation is only found on Image 1, this time on the far left and far right. They are simply uncoloured mountains. Why they are uncolored is unknown. But a fair guess could be that this mural was the one that the Princess of Sal Vindagyr did not finish. Or maybe they were never meant to have color. I can’t really say either way.

Compared to Tsurumi Island: While Chenyu Vale is certainly the most unique of the three locations, it’s not by much. This is solely because of the electro seelie murals (Images 3, 4, 5). Every other mural that represents land in any way across all three locations does so in a stylized manner except for these three. Which represent their respective locations in a realistic way. 

Now I want to make it clear that this was almost certainly done with more consideration towards game meta than a sudden style change from this civilization. It would be pretty hard to find these electro seelie going off murals as stylized as everything else is. But that’s against the spirit of what we’re looking at here, so we will ignore it.

So what qualities make these realistic compared to the other murals? Firstly, they are scaled correctly. Stuff in the background is smaller than stuff in the foreground. This is mainly achieved by how thick the black lines separating different sections are. The thicker the line, the closer that specific section is. There’s also the use of smudging that we discussed earlier when looking at color. And thus will not repeat again here. Finally, they go that little extra mile by sticking a few crop motifs in various sections to show plant life. Their small scale helping them fall more toward realistic than stylistic. They are overall very well done images.

On the other hand, there are still the stylized land depictions to be talked about. Present in Images 6 and 7 are the same stylized mountains as the ones found on Dragonspine. Crop motifs and all. The only difference is that they are colored yellow instead of green. Why that’s the case is unknown. But it’s likely just a regional difference.

Living Beings:

Chenyu Vale: The final aspect of stylization we will be looking at is how murals depict “living beings”. I say that in quotes because there is no direct indication of what exactly most of these figures are. But this felt like the easiest set of words for which to differentiate the various aspects I wished to talk about. And is also what a good chunk of them probably represent.

With that out of the way we can look at Chenyu Vale’s mural one more time today. And just as with the land, the nail mural (Image 9) gives us quite a curveball. The figures in this mural have been rendered in a more amorphous shape than those found in Images 10 and 11. Care has also been made to keep their heads separate from their bodies and all the figures are depicted in what I would best describe as lukewarm colors. Detailing on the figures is also very scarce with only the two largest figures having any. And even then it is quite minimal. Consisting  of simply some bold lines to separate them more from the background and a few fainter ones to show clothing on their bottoms halves. All other figures are represented only by a body and head with zero line detailing to speak of. This slight bit of extra work done to these two figures was likely done to indicate some level of importance that these figures may have held within this society. In the end these figures are extremely unique. They are somewhat similar to the smallest figures on Dragonspine seeing as how they both have detached heads and very simplistic designs. But those figures are much smaller and depict more human aspects compared to the majority of those at Chenyu Vale. Overall, I believe this to once again indicate that this mural was created a decent time before the other two.

Moving along to the Chiwang Jade Piece mural (Image 10) we get to what could probably be referred to as Chenyu Vale’s “standard style” for figures. Although their coloration changes somewhat in Image 11. Anyways, each of these figures has had far more work and consideration put towards them than the ones in Image 9. Each figure can be seen wearing what is almost certainly a cloak as evidenced by the amount of material hanging from their outstretched arms and the fact that we cannot see any legs. Something they very likely would have rendered considering that they all have tiny little hands. Such clothing also fits the style of clothing worn by the people of Chenyu Vale in the current era. They even get to have necks unlike the ones in Image 9. These figures are further divided into two distinct sizes. The larger figure is only two in number and sits directly left and right of the mountains that house the Jade Piece. We know these figures to represent priests as discussed at the start of this analysis. In terms of color, these figures are made up of a very slight yellow gradient. An odd choice in my opinion as it makes seeing the detail lines on them quite difficult. 

The other kind of figure found upon this mural is smaller in size and can be found in two rows of three behind the two larger figures. Just like the larger figures their gradients are only very slight but this time come in green, making their detail lines much more visible. They probably represent the various assistants to the priests that would have likely been employed to help with rituals.

These smaller figures have no changes between Images 10 and 11 apart from their gradient becoming a little more distinctive as well as orange. The larger figure has no changes in color, but loses almost all of its detail lines except for the ones that define the head and hands. This is another odd choice for me as we know for certain that this figure is Adeptus Fujin. So why did the detailing get worse and not better? I actually don’t know, but would be rather open to any suggestions you all might have as to why.

Compared to Dragonspine: Despite having the fewest murals, Dragonspine easily takes the prize for number of different figures. A total of 4 distinct figure types exist on Dragonspines murals. All of which are found on Image 2. The most common of these figures is also the ones with the simplest designs. As mentioned earlier, they are somewhat similar to the figures found upon the nail mural (Image 9) in Chenyu Vale. They have very simplified slightly amorphous shapes and heads noticeably detached from the bodies. But that’s where the similarities end. On the left side 3 stand in a line with what are presumably their arms outstretched in front of them. Likely a simplified expression of what the larger priest-like figures that sit between are doing. Something which will be discussed in a moment.

 On the right side another 3 figures are going up the mountain carrying some kind of material upon their backs. Considering they are heading towards what was probably Sal Vindagnyrs connection with Celestia. It can be inferred that these were most likely offerings of some description.

The second most common kind of figure is a larger medium sized figure of what I am assuming to be priests of some kind (based mainly on my findings from my look at Sal Vindagnyr I did in the past). These figures are significantly more complex than the previous set. They wear well detailed clothing of black and gray, have well defined faces and hands with individual fingers. They even have gilded golden crowns and sashes. On the left side two of these figures stand with their arms above their heads and hands outstretched as if waiting to receive something. They are also in noticeably poor condition. Whether this is due to natural deterioration, a state of unfinishedness, or some combination of the two I cannot say. On the right side a single figure stands with one arm outstretched pointing towards the mountain with its pointer finger. This figure is in near perfect condition and is likely what the two figures on the left were supposed to look like.

Our next figure shrinks us down in size a little bit. Right of the mountains but left of the pointing priest is a smaller medium sized figure that seems to be a cross between the tiny black figures and the priestly ones. While this figure has a small bit of detailed clothing, its head is also detached from its body like the smaller figures on the right side. It is also carrying goods upon its back like the smaller figures. Not entirely sure what this figure is meant to represent. But it might be trying to say that everyone has to give something to the gods.

Our final figure for Dragonspine is the very large one located on the far left of Image 2. While it resembles the priestly figures in general design and coloration. It has a profoundly different head structure, a complex design inlaid upon the collar of its clothing, and what appear to be wings coming out of its back. Its arms are outstretched offering something that bears a striking similarity to a representation of an atom to the left priestly figures. This figure almost certainly represents a god of some kind given its size and decoration. Something rather unusual for these murals as in all other cases the object of worship either is (like at Chenyu Vale) or is implied to be (like on Tsurumi Island) an object. This could have something to do with Sal Vindagnyrs supposed closeness to Celestia. But I cannot say for sure.

Much like at Chenyu Vale there are very distinct levels of importance being depicted here. But unlike Chenyu Vale is the amount of work and detail put into representing each one. The reason for this difference is unknown.

Compared to Tsurumi Island: Like Dragonspine, Tsurumi Island only has figures present on one of its murals. On Image 6 a total of 5 separate figures in 3 different styles are present on the left side of the mural. Of which we will look at going from left to right.

Keeping in style with Dragonspine our first two figures colors are very simple as they consist only of black. Unlike Dragonspine however is the amount of detail they still have. Whereas Dragonspine’s black figures have only heads, bodies, and arms. Tsurumi Island’s black figures have heads, bodies, arms, and legs. Although interestingly the heads are still detached like on Dragonspine. These figures appear to be bowing on all four limbs to whatever is in front of them in a likely act of worship/reverence. They probably represent a lower class of worshiper or equivalent thereof.

The second set of figures on Tsurumi Island also numbers two individuals. These figures are rendered like how I imagine Dragonspine’s crossed figure would appear if it were standing up straight. Because although they are dressed very similarly to the priestly figures, their clothing design is more simplistic and they lack any form of gilding. They also have detached heads like the simpler figures. These figures appear to be kneeling with their arms outstretched towards whatever it is they are worshiping/revering and probably represent a middle class level of observer.

The final figure present on Tsurumi is literally just the priestly figures found on Dragonspine. It is slightly smaller and missing its hands but the clothing design and gilding is exactly the same. It probably represents a priest or equivalent like on Dragonspine as there is only one depicted and it is standing unlike the other 4 figures. This is a fairly big deal as it is another definitive connection between the Pre-Thunderbird Civilization and Sal Vindagnyr. But that was pretty well established already thanks to the mountains and wind.

Conclusion:

Well that was quite the wall of text. I originally started making this at the beginning of summer thinking I could get it done before I started my summer math course. Well I was wrong. So instead you're getting it now a little more than a week before Natlan rolls out and I go back to school for the year. I know it falls short in a few places, but I’d quite like to be done with it so I can enjoy my last few days before I go back to school. I’m still here however, and very much looking forward to diving into more history.

I want to give a shoutout to two other users for keeping some semblance of a heartbeat inside the ancient civilization niche. Those people being u/PeachySwirls u/Maxwell_Adams.

Peachy helped fill the hole between me going to college and posting the look at Fontainian architecture with their look at the Triquetra Ruins. The first part of which can be found here. This was exactly the kind of thing I was hoping people would do while I couldn’t make things.

Maxwell helped hold down the fort with regards to my more theory driven content with their look at the history of the moon. They even went so far as to provide a better explanation for the Tsurumi Murals and the moons than I did (which I am still a little salty about, but that’s how this stuff works). The first part of that series can be found here

But that’s all from me. I have an idea of something I might make slowly while I’m in school. So how does a look at the borders of each ruins complex sound to everyone?

[kokomona]

barbeloth has had a lot of howl’s moving castle references revolving around her in the hexenteaser and now more in simulanka!

there’s also some spirited away references in simulanka with the train tracks over the water

i love that genshin uses the hexenzirkel to reference studio ghibli films, it’s just so fitting imo since both are very magical and whimsical :') lmk if there’s any more references that i missed!!

[genshinnrambles]

Hi, why do you want to archive your posts?

Hi anon!

the ones I archived were just really old, tbh, and stuff I wasn't proud of anymore/my views on the topic and the canon had changed so much since then that I didn't want them up anymore.

[genshinnrambles]

small update

hey friends, long time no post. just wanted to let y'all know I am going to be archiving most of my posts from 2021, which I would rather not share with the internet anymore lol (although if you really want to see them, the wayback machine exists). that means they will be made private, so links to the posts will no longer work. in the masterpost, I will make a note next to each post that has been archived.

[trashcanlore]

My Chemical Marriage

The chemical wedding is an allegory used in alchemical writings to refer to the union of opposites, particularly a union that produces a new and improved product, the Rebis. 

One popular version of the allegorical wedding takes place between the Red King, the active principle (sulfur) that shapes the material and passive principle of the White Queen (mercury). However, this allegory can refer to the union of sun and moon, silver and gold, or even body and spirit. 

The Rebis refers to the end product of the magnum opus, and is typically depicted as a hermaphrodite.

The child of the chemical marriage is sometimes called the philosopher’s child and fun fact, is associated with the myth of Orion and his three fathers (Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune). The myth is very different but I can’t help but think of the Simurgh. 

Though the chemical marriage allegory is very much referring to marriage and procreation, etc, in the context of Genshin, it’s used more to refer to a union of opposites, or a collaboration between two types of being, which will be elaborated on later. Of the four examples I will be going through, only two of these relationships have any kind of (canon) romantic associations attached to them. Basically what i’m trying to say is that this is definitely not about ships please don’t eat me.

It’s a well established trend in the history of Teyvat that there have been many god-king-like beings associated with gold or the sun, who had some kind of relationship with a knowledgeable and moon-associated woman, who then dies tragically during the god-king’s quest to Change The World. 

And now, in thematic order, I present the doomed pairings: 

Imunlaukr and the princess of Sal Vindagnyr

Imunlaukr is an outlander, destined to wield the Snow Tombed Starsilver sword to “shatter ice and snow.” The wiki cites a stanza where this name is used as a kenning for a sword. Imunlaukr tried to save Sal Vind from the catastrophic ice and snow caused by the Skyfrost Nail hitting an Irminsul tree, but he failed. Sal Vind had a princess who was also the daughter of the priestess of Vindagnyr, and was “born beneath this white tree” (Frostbearer). She is described as being “bright as the moonlight,” and had the gift of prophecy, painting her visions as frescos on the walls of the city - you can see them in the room where you find the Starsilver sword.  

Guizhong and Zhongli

According to the Stone Tablet Compilations: Vol. I, Rex Lapis descended to Liyue. This isn’t the same descending as Descenders, and it has been argued that a better translation would be ‘demoted,’ but this has similarities to the way Deshret and Remus are described as founding their kingdoms. Rex Lapis is also called Deus Auri, the Golden God, and in the Dialogue of the Desert Sages description, it says that “transformation into gold and Mora is the sole province of Deus Auri.” Guizhong’s moon connection is on the weaker end, but she is strongly associated with glaze lilies, a flower that only blooms at night, like the Nilotpala, or Lunar, lotuses. She gave Zhongli a stone dumbbell, the Memory of Dust, which contains her “wisdom.” Zhongli is still unable to unlock it, and before Guizhong’s death, she told him to forget about its contents.  On a more superficial note, Zhongli and Guizhong have a color scheme that will also be part of the pattern discussed here- black and gold and blue and white.

Remus and Sybilla

Sybilla was the former “envoy that protected the silver tree,” but she had lost her “mind and form.” However, she still retained her gift of prophecy, and told Remus about his destiny to found Remuria (and its inevitable downfall). Sybila’s loss of her physical form and mind is reminiscent of the Aranara stories about how Seelies were cursed to lose their body and intelligence if they fell in love with a human.

After making an arrangement with Remus, the silver tree that Sybilla was protecting transformed into a golden ship, which according to The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria , was called Fortuna, and with it, Remus “descended” onto Meropis.  Together with Sybilla, Remus created Phobos, the Great/Golden Symphony. Phobos is the name of one of the moons of Mars, the red planet. Combined with the Primordial Sea-derived ichor, it would allow his people to shed their physical forms and transcend their prophesied doom. Sybilla even sacrificed her life to make the symphony possible, but she wasn’t completely dead in the end, and her lack of “persona” led to the Symphony going awry. 

And MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Golden Troupe of Remuria used a magical technique Rene called the “seal of chymical marriage,” and which I think was used to seal the Primordial Sea. Rene would later attempt to reverse its power to Evangelion-ify the people of Fontaine.

We don’t know what Remus or Sybilla actually looked like, but the color scheme of both the Remuria based artifact sets are white/blue/gold and black/blue/gold. 

Decarabian and Amos

Decarabian was the god-king and founder of Mondstadt approximately 2600 years ago. He created a wind barrier to protect his people from the storms outside (and from Andrius), and in an effort to keep his people safe, micromanaged their lives, even banning certain kinds of music that could incite rebellion (Song of Broken Pines). Interestingly, his goal to protect his people is described as a ‘dream’ multiple times in item descriptions.  The Scattered Piece of Decarabian's Dream: He tried so hard to make his dream come true, and so the fragments of that dream are still mighty.

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.  I wonder if this is meant to be another incidence of the literal power of music, like Remus’s symphony, or the Source Song.  |Decarabian had a human lover named Amos, although from her perspective, he did not understand her or her mortal love, or even the (lack of) devotion of his people. This reminds me of Scylla telling Remus that as a Usurper, he is cursed to love humanity. But maybe not understand them, which would be both of these god-kings’ downfalls.  Though Amos was human, she also seems to have had prophetic dreams: "I dreamt of ocean waves and sand, of lush forests and land." "I dreamt of boars playing in berry bushes, of a towering spire." These words she spoke to the God King in a soft tone, but they were left unheard. (Amos’ Bow) Eventually, she would join the rebellion against him, and attempt to assassinate him. Amos also fits into the blue and white color scheme, and has a feather ornament similar to Lumine in her hair: 

And we come to the piece de resistance. The ultimate example. One of the weirdest things in genshin lore (in a good way). I present:

Whatever TF is Going on With Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers

In The Lay of Al-Ahmar, Deshret is described as a “son of the sky,” with abilities that earned him the reverence of the tribes in the desert. One of his titles, Al-Ahmar, is Arabic for “the red one.” Deshret dreamed of creating a utopia for humans, and the final manifestation of that dream was the (failed) Golden Slumber, where like Remus, he attempted to separate his mind from his body. God-kings and their hiveminds…. Deshret received assistance in the form of access to forbidden knowledge from the Goddess of Flowers, also known as Nabu Malikata. The title Nabu refers to the Babylonian god of wisdom, who is associated with the planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy. The title ‘Nabu’ has the same linguistic root as the Arabic ‘nabiyy’ (نبي) and Hebrew ‘navi’ (נביא), meaning prophet.  According to Arama, the Goddess of Flowers was a survivor of the Seelie race. After her exile, she wandered the desert, where her blood turned into streams of water that allowed gardens of water lilies to grow, which in turn birthed the Jinn. Additionally, wherever she stepped, purple flowers called Padisarahs, described as “bearing semblance to the moon,” bloomed (Flower of Paradise Lost). Together with Deshret, she founded Ay-Khanoum, meaning "[City of the] Moon Maiden.”  In addition to being known as “the red one,” Deshret is also known as the “Lord of Sand.” Combined with the Goddess of Flowers association with both water and mercury, I consider their respective titles to be a reference to Ibn Umayl’s Silvery Water and Starry Earth, a 10th century alchemical text. The ‘silvery water’ refers to mercury, or quicksilver, and the ‘starry earth’ is sulfur. This text is also referenced in the refinement materials for Dialogue of the Desert Sages, where this time the mercury-looking material is called “exalted earth.” The mercury-sulfur theory of metals was popular in medieval Islamic alchemy, and it refers to the idea that all metals are formed in the earth out of a combination of these two elements.   Like Sybilla, it’s implied the Goddess of Flowers sacrificed her life to help Deshret fulfill his goals.  Secret Keeper’s Magic Bottle: "I shall fashion you a bridge to allow you to slake your deepest wants. But you must fear not the crystalline sapphire nail..." "I will deliver you unto higher knowledge. But as I have warned, you are fated to lose much in this exchange..." "Nevertheless, hide my lesson in your heart. Remember the punishment that once was inflicted on the fallen envoys of heaven." "Know this: if there is to be hope in this world, it will be found kindling within mortals most ordinary." Wreathed in darkness, she guided her dearest friend toward the path to understanding all there was to know about the skies and the abyss. Using her body as a conduit and offering the oasis in trade, she let the dazzling radiance consume her to see his deepest desires be made manifest… It’s not clear exactly when she died, as other sources of in-game info attribute her death to the “malice of the burning sun and yellow sand,” as well as imply her death was part of a larger plan she had (Oasis Garden weapon mats). That being said, the Flower of Paradise Lost description states that after she performed this exchange, she was never seen again. As for the color scheme mentioned earlier, we don’t know what Deshret or the Goddess of Flowers looked like. Our only hints as to their human forms are the Gilded Dreams TCG card/artifact design, and a throwaway line in the Sumeru Archon Quest where Nilou says her stage costume is inspired by legends about how the Goddess of Flowers dressed.

As of 4.7, we also have the Flower of Paradise Lost TCG card, which may depicted the Goddess of Flowers. The color scheme is purple and white, but the woman in the art is wearing a dress that looks similar to Guizhongs (delulu). The crown on this card has little wings, which are reminiscent of the winged helmet Mercury is sometimes depicted as wearing. 

The defining feature of the chemical marriage is that the metaphorical union produces something greater than the sum of its parts. Sybilla and the Goddess of Flower’s sacrifices allowed the fulfillment of plans that were intended to create new worlds, something I would consider greater than the combination of god and Seelie minds. Another common thread in these transactions is wisdom, or lack thereof, with both Goddess of Flowers and Guizhong offering wisdom, and Sybilla saying that she no longer has hers - although that didn’t stop her from becoming part of Phobos. This theme of wisdom also has alchemical significance, since the philosopher’s stone is the lapis philosophorum; the 'stone of wisdom'. I’ve written a theory about the philosopher’s stone and Descenders and alchemy, including the chemical wedding motif, in the Narzissekreuz Ordo questions: you can check it out here. Two points that I want to carry over to this theory is that a) there is evidence to suggest that the philosopher’s stone and a Descender are the same in Teyvat and b) the ability to successfully change Fortuna (fate) is directly linked with Descender status.  I’m not saying that Deshret and Remus were trying to become Descenders, but there are clear thematic parallels with their goals, and Rene’s goals. Additionally, these four examples are not the only time a union resulted in world changing consequences. Records of Jueyun recounts the story of the traveler from afar and the seelie: At a far-flung moment in the distant past, the ancestor of the seelie met a traveler from afar, with whom they swore an oath of union witnessed by the three sisters of the Lunar Palace. Just thirty days later, a sudden disaster struck. The seelie and their lover fled into exile as the world collapsed around them, fleeing until the terrible calamity caught up with and seized them. Their cruel punishment was to be separated from each other for eternity and to have their memories wiped without a trace. The book goes on to directly connect this union with the curse of the Seelies that Arama mentions: The graceful but heartbroken seelie and the sisters grew more sullen and withdrawn with each passing day, to the point where their wondrous forms withered away, leaving fragments of their former selves scattered in the mountains and ruins, where they turned into tiny little life forms. They had forgotten so much, lost so much, and been stripped of their voices and wisdom, yet they continued to sing the same songs of grief. Because of this, still harboring a shred of the deep love they once had for their long-lost lover, they will act as guides to travelers who stop in the mountain mist, seeking to retrace their memories of an ancient story in long-abandoned ruins, disused makeup cabinets, and now-undecipherable poetry. Moonlight Bamboo forest has another version of the story, where the three moon sisters loved the “stars of daybreak,” and after some kind of cataclysmic event, only one (dead) moon remained in the sky. Mitternacht’s Waltz also described a sword shattering one of the moons: Two of the three bright moons that caused the perfumed sea of the primordial universe to shine and stirred up the beasts of the Arianrhod Realm were shredded by a sword that tore the horizon asunder, left in smithereens too small even for the mystical sight of the Prinzessin. Ever since the Narzissenkreuz quests, I am very suspicious of all swords mentioned in lore.  If we put all these themes and narratives together, another possible metaphorical union emerges:

Since the dawn of Genshin lore, there have been various theories regarding the duality in the designs of the twins, with some also suggesting that they are two separate halves of one being. However, I’d like to propose the opposite: if the twins follow the path of their fellow black/gold and blue/white predecessors, then it seems likely a fusion that is also a sacrifice is in the future for our protagonist.  There are other similarities between the twins and the god-king/seelie pairs. The twins have sun and moon symbolism on their clothes, constellations, and swords: Aether’s has a star (sun) shaped hilt  and Lumine’s a moon. The Traveler is frequently described as being ‘golden’ (ex. Golden Nara), and Liloupar says that they remind her of Deshret.   The Traveler is already a Descender, but they definitely don’t seem to have the strength or knowledge to exercise their world-equivalent Will yet - and maybe their sibling who has been spending time in the Abyss and has learned the “truth of this world” can help. In that case, the knowledge of the Abyss-aligned twin would fulfill the role of the Seelie knowledge in this pair, helping the Traveler complete their power-up. But what about Paimon, the emergency food? She's the dove, representing the spirit and- [is dragged offstage]. 

P.S. I didn’t know where to fit this in, but I think Before Sun and Moon is also referring to a chemical wedding. Sun -> sulfur and gold, Moon -> mercury and silver. The title could be an incomplete phrase, and actually be something like “Before Sun and Moon joined.”