No Way!!!!!! The Natlan Trailer is release !!!!!!!!!!!!
Genshin Impact just dropped a new teaser and it is about Natlan, the next region the traveler will be visiting soon. In the trailer, Genshin showed a handful of new characters: Chasca, Citlali, Iansan, K'uhul Ajaw, Kachina, Kinich, Mavuika, Mualani, Ororon, and Xilonen. The teaser also showed a familiar character that many people had hoped to see for the longest time is Capitano, one of the Fatui Harbingers.
The trailer seems to center around a tournament, which was referenced at the end of the Fontaine Archon quest (Archon Quest Chapter IV: Act V - Masquerade of the Guilty). However, the reason for the tournament is still up in the air but some of the newest clues about it from the trailer are quotes like this one: “This battle is for winners only. The champion... will take all.”
But something I want to focus on is one of the new characters: Mavuika. Many people believe that she is the current pyro archon of Natlan. However, if she is the current pyro archon then what about Murata?
Murata was mentioned in the official Genshin Impact webcomic in the prologue chapter when Venti was talking to Venessa, where Venti mentioned “the children of Murata, the lady of fire” when talking about Venessa and her tribe. With the way Venti spoke of her, it seemed like he knew her personally, which made her seem like she was a part of the seven archons. But what do we know about her? Other than the title “the lady of fire”, Venti describes her as a lady of war, and warriors from the tribes would perform rites of combat and would celebrate victories in her name. Other than that, there wasn’t much information about it as it was kept vague.
With the release of the trailer and new characters, many people believed that Mavuika was the Pyro archon. If she is the pyro archon, then where is Murata?
Theory 1: Murata is the previous archon while Mavuika is her successor.
It is known that Venti and Zhongli are the only two of the original seven who are still alive in the game as the others have died around the time of the cataclysm in Khaenri'ah and their successors have inherited their titles. In addition, when Venti was to speak to Venessa about her, it was roughly about 1,000 years before the traveler came to Teyvat and started their journey to regain their power and find their sibling. The previous pyro archon was Murata and she died during the events of Cataclysm while Mavuika was someone who Murata trusted and later became a successor to inherit her position as archon.
(Note: Murata might have had the title of the god of war due to being called a lady of war but it is unclear whether the title as the god of war was originally hers to begin with and she chose to pass it down to her successor or the title belongs to her successor first. But all we know is that the Pyro archon is the god of war and it is safe to assume that the title belongs to the current Pyro archon Natlan.)
Theory 2: Murarta and Mavuika are the same person
This part can be done in many different ways so I am going to describe at least a few.
One way is that Murata is a title used by the Pyro archons. The archons have many names and titles they use. So if Mavuika is the Pyro archon, she could have used Murata as a name or title. If this were the case, the previous archon likely used Murata as a name or title as well.
Another way is that maybe it is similar to Nahida/Rukkhadevata or a Furina/Focalors situation.
Murata and Mavuika might be (in Rukkhadevata’s words) of the same nature as each other or the same person with two different identities but have an identical appearance. For the last archons, this has happened where the current archon has a counterpart that shares their appearance or a part of their identities. Nahida and her predecessor Rukkhadevata have the same appearance as they are “of the same nature” and they ended up sharing identical appearances. While Focalors and Furina are the same person but they were split into two identities. Something similar could have happened with Murata and Mavuika. But how?
If you take a look at the title of the Archon quest for Natlan, the title is Incandescent Ode of Resurrection and in the trailer we see Capitano, a bird with a trail of fire, flying toward him and then we see Mavuika next to him. I believe the bird is likely a phoenix and a phoenix is a symbol of rebirth (for most cultures). They are known to regenerate as when they die they are set on fire and then they rise from the ashes to live another life. If it were to go a similar route as with the other archons, Murata would have died but only to rise from the ashes of her death and live a new life as Mavuika. Even if the bird isn’t a phoenix and is a different type of bird, the concept of rebirth is not that far-fetched, due to the hint of a resurrection in the title of the future Archon Quest chapter.
(Note: While editing this, I did some quick searches and learned that Natlan is based mostly on Latin America in the Pre-Columbian era, and African, Hispanic, and Aboriginal Australian cultures. Some of the cultures in Latin America in the Pre-Columbian era like the Aztecs do have concepts of rebirth (wasn’t able to get that deep into it or see the concept about it in other cultures that Natlan is based on due to lack of free time). So the idea of a potential rebirth with the archon definitely doesn’t seem to be that far-fetched but who knows until more information is release about the characters and the region).
