The Wilderness Curse
Ever since the desert lore was released, and comparing it to other ancient civilizations.. I've been thinking about what if the curse of the wilderness is not actually laid by Celestia?
What if it's a case of people believing a sort of "natural disaster" is a punishment from heaven? something very common in human history but also in genshin's history from what we've seen; like the desert people believing the curse of Shiruyeh was.. well a curse related to Shiruyeh, and not Liloupar punishing the people by using abyssal power as well (a curse that left people to become creatures who lost their language and faces.. so just like hillichurls)
So far, all the destroyed civilizations we've heard of had something in common, their humans or gods somehow in one way or another made contact with the Abyss (forbidden knowledge)…
We can go as far as the tiara artifacts civilization; the envoys of heaven talked directly with the people, but once they stopped answering them, humans looked for answers "in the deep places of the earth" (see the last sentences of the artifacts):
Tiara of Thunder is an Artifact in the set Prayers for Wisdom. They say that,Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelations
Tiara of Frost is an Artifact in the set Prayers to Springtime. They say that,The line of chief priests have always seen this same sight as
Tiara of Flame is an Artifact in the set Prayers for Illumination. They say that,Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelat
Tiara of Torrents is an Artifact in the set Prayers for Destiny. They say that,Once upon a time, the people of the land could hear revelatio
We hear of it through the Sal Vindagnyr ppl who used to receive blessings from the skies until they suddenly stopped, where a celestial nail fell (possibly to stop some abyssal corruption?) and where we see their last scribe turned into a lawachurl..
What if each time, it came back to people being doomed to fall into temptation as it says in Before Sun and Moon:
You are either satisfied with living under the rule of the heavens, or you make contact with the Abyss and suffer the consequences, the heavens throw a nail wherever they need to patch up an "abyssal leak" not really caring for survivors - but the people are already touched by the corruption, they turn into monsters and lose "their faces and language". Those witnessing it assume it is a divine punishment but if the people were dangerous and had to be punished why wouldn't they kill them and stop their ideas from spreading like has happened with khaenri'ahns and the Abyss Order?
The hillichurl themselves are attracted to the power of the abyss from what we've seen, praying and walking towards the "crystal", and even their beliefs could possibly be tied to it (a little outdates thread i wrote about their belief in "One"), why would celestia curse them with something that attracts them to the very thing they seem to always be fighting?
I think the wilderness curse is an effect caused by contact with abyss power/goo, possibly affecting different humans/creatures differently, and all this time it was simply seen like a punishment from the gods..
always easier to put the blame on something/someone else rather than just accepting it's nature doing it's thing or worse, it's your own very fault. Oh, the arrogation of mankind!!
this is a theory i wrote on twitter early 2023 and have since just found more and more things that confirm it, wanted to have it written in tumblr as well but here's the original thread:
