#genshin lore

[jenschaoticmind]

I knew it. I KNEW IT WAS SUS FROM THE START. ESPECIALLY WITH HOW HYV KEPT EMPHASISING THAT HIS CRYO IS DIFFERENT.

TELL ME I'M NOT CRAZY.

[earth-shaker]

i'm clearly not the only one to have this theory, but i really don't think Kaeya is literally a Cavalry Captain

we already all memed to death how silly it is to take all the cavalry but leave the captain - like either take the whole cavalry or leave a portion of it in Mondstadt to defend the city with the captain, and take the other half. take the cavalry without the captain seems like the worst possible choice

but more importantly - have you noticed how good Kaeya is at gathering intel and that he's pretty much doing it anytime we see him?

but it wouldn't do to have a "Favonius Spy" or "Favonius Intel Gatherer" as someone's official role. it would make people wary around him and thus less likely to give him information

Yelan is similar, but in her case, she doesn't appear in any registries or files at all, and isn't very well-known to the general public. i suggest Kaeya is in a similar boat, but instead of being completely absent from the Knights' roster (might be harder as everybody seems to know everybody in Mondstadt, at least moreso than in Liyue), he's instead labelled as the "Cavalry Captain"

and maybe he sometimes acts as it, y'know so people will see him with the Cavalry and won't become suspicious. but his true role is to gather intel.

and that's why Varka didn't take him along: the Intel Gatherer of the Knights of Favonius would be better continuing to gather intel in the city than coming with the expedition.

[1batmoth]

Sinners meeting

[shulmio]

« who am i now, u ask... just a "human" who's lost her voice »

[kajen-jpg]

Look at my team, we are not beating any dragons bruh

| Xbalanque, Ochkan | Lianca, Yupanqui | Ixquieh, Ahpub | Uenuku, Maghan | Hineila, Starcaller |

[transfem-jakob-ingold]

[kidicaruslover911]

i giggled making this

[starcurtain]

Genshin's Six Types of Fae

I'm seeing a lot of speculation about the "six common types" of Snowland Fae that Linnea mentions, but I think it's too early to call what the actual categories will be based on what we currently know. The issue is that--because "sub-categories" have already been introduced with the three different types of Volkodlak--we have no idea whether any given fae we currently know about falls under a main category or a sub-category.

Currently, in terms of "major" categories, we know only one for certain: the Volkodlak.

The Volkodlak

Blood-drinking animal shifters. They come in three varieties (at least that we've seen so far!): wolf, bull, and bear. It's unclear if they have a specific elemental alignment. It's likely they qualify as one of the "six common types" of fae because they cover multiple sub-categories already, and clearly had a large group of different clans/tribes under their banner.

The readable "A Brief History of the Pale Starborn" mentions several other possible types of fae, but each is complicated by a lack of detail:

The Vila

The readable states that this group of fae had many different fiefs, indicating there is likely a large collection of them. This lends itself to the idea that "the Vila" qualify as one of the "six common types," though we still can't confirm that currently. Vila are traditionally nature spirits associated with air; however, there's a lot of variety in Vila legends, with them sometimes being benevolent and sometimes violent. They also have connections to nature and woodland areas, so there could be a connection to dendro? Harry Potter fans will recognize the "Veela."

The Domovoy

Mentioned only very briefly in the readable, with one character (Grand Duke Alvis). The way this is stated, though, suggests there is a whole group of Domovoy, ruled over by one grand duke. This lends some support to the idea that "Domovoy" may be one of the six common categories of fae, though again, we don't have enough info to confirm currently. Domovoy are household spirits who in-dwell objects in human homes to serve as family guardians. They're associated with the element of earth through the creation of clay golems.

The Nixie/Waterborn

Water imps or spirits. Whether they count as one of the "common" types of fae is complicated by the historical situation in the readable--Miscislav was a Volkodlak but had control over the fiefdoms of the Vila. The Waterborn were already aligned with Miscislav from the start of the readable, so we have no way of confirming whether Nixie/Waterborn count as their own separate group or whether they were considered a sub-category of one of the other groups (Volkodlak or Vila, etc.).

The Aarnivalkea

Flins's type of fae. These are will-o-wisps or sentient flames, obviously elementally aligned to fire/pyro. We have no way right now of knowing whether they count as one of the six major categories or if they're a "sub-type" of another category. (For example, if Domovoy inhabit household items to guard human families, would a fae inhabiting a lantern to guide humans fall under that category?) I'm inclined to think the Aarnivalkea are a separate type, but there is a lot of overlap in folklore!

What's Up With the Elements?

Linnea's drip marketing makes a big deal out of aligning the six common types of fae with the seven nations of Teyvat and the seven hues of the rainbow, which, thanks to Natlan, we know is a reference to the power of the Light Realm/Phlogistion splitting into the seven elements.

This suggests to me that the "six common types" of fae probably have at least some sort of alignment to six of the seven elements of Teyvat, with one element missing--possibly for plot-related reasons. It wouldn't really make much sense to bring up the seven elements in conjunction with the six types of fae if there wasn't some connection there, right?

If Waterborn cover hydro, Aarnivalkea cover pyro, Domovoy cover geo, and Vila cover anemo, that leaves us with cryo, dendro, and electro.

Theoretically, the Belyi Tsar was from the type of fae aligned to cryo. There's overlap with the Tsar and the Tsaritsa to the Morozko and Snegurochka legends, but (also theoretically) those are completely different characters from a completely different part of Genshin's history, so rather than the Belyi Tsar being Ded Moroz himself, there should be a general type of fae that are aligned with cryo, for whom we're currently just missing the group name.

Complicating this is the Belyi Tsar's claim that he came from a "sacred bloodline" that made him different/better than other fae. The readable suggests this is just propaganda, but we have no way of knowing right now. If the Belyi Tsar's bloodline really was unique, it may actually be that cryo is the element not included in the "six common types" of fae. (There's a tiny bit of evidence for this idea in the fact that Miscislav's armies were defeated by an "unexpected icy fog," with the readable clearly stating that no one knew where the icy fog came from. This suggests that none of Miscislav's forces were expecting/knew of a fae who could control snow or ice...)

Anyway, cryo should be covered by whatever the Belyi Tsar was. That just leaves us with dendro and electro. It's unclear what (if any) element the Volkodlak might have been associated with (although they were all animals, so I guess there's at least some nature connection?), so it's difficult to say whether they fit the bill for either dendro or electro currently, and which (if either) element is missing and for what reason one element is missing from the fae.

We just don't have enough info yet. Linnea's character stories and voicelines, we are all counting on you!

But What About Changelings?

Linnea's drip marketing suggests she might count among another group called "Changelings"; however, I'm hesitant to suggest that "Changeling" is a specific type of fae in and of itself without the game giving us more evidence of that.

As I mentioned in the last post, in real world folklore, Changelings aren't one specific type of supernatural creature, but the umbrella name applied to a wide variety of fae who disguise themselves (or their own children) as human children, then swap out the actual human child, allowing themselves (or their fae children) to instead be raised by humans. Changelings can come from any variety of fae--this term applies just to the act of "changing out" a human child for a fae.

Linnea's drip marketing might hint that she experienced this herself:

But again, even the idea that she may have been raised by/among humans hasn't been confirmed.

I know others have suggested that Filipov, the fae who's best known for shapeshifting, might be a "Changeling," but I think it's just the case that many different types of fae can shapeshift, and Filipov just happens to be super good at it. I don't think the current lore out there is enough to say he belongs to any specific type of fae yet, given that being able to change forms is a key feature we've heard about in numerous types of fae already. Filipov is also a "let's wait and see" from me!

Wahhhhh, I want Linnea's voicelines now! Give me the forbidden fairy lore, girl, please!