How Magic and Fate Work in Teyvat
Okay, so this is a post about how magic and fate work in Teyvat. It's not a theory, exactly—more of a summary and reframing. I'm going to list canon facts and explain them through one cohesive framework, just to help you see how the world's rules actually function.
Let's start with the obvious: Teyvat is some sort of digital world. A simulation, a constructed reality, something along those lines. Maybe a mix of both, maybe a matrix situation where there is a physical world underneath a simulation, I don't know and I don't care to speculate, I just know it works on programming rules.
We knew from Sumeru that Irminsul is a digital database. It stores, modifies, and deletes information like a hard drive. It can be hacked, corrupted, and rewritten. The Wanderer's entire Interlude Quest is about exploiting this—erasing himself from the record, only to discover that deleting his own data doesn't erase the consequences.
And now we have the Temple of Space, where we find memory cores. These are described in terms that are one-to-one with computer bytes. We're told, explicitly, that every object and creature in Teyvat can be broken down into several memory cores and then reassembled again. The same way any program can be broken down into files and then reconstructed.
Like. It's so on the nose. The game is not being subtle.
So, with that framework in mind—Teyvat functions a simulated/digital reality—let's reframe what we know about fate, magic, and the rules of this world. The system has logic. It has limits. And once you understand the underlying architecture, a lot of things start to make sense.
How magic works: miliastra wonderland
Now, how magic actually works was illustrated very obviously in the recent event where Nicole and Alice created a bubble world that was a recreation of the Mondstadt Archon Quest.
Nicole was talking about debugging, trigger conditions, asset reuse, background music sync—the language of software development, not sorcery. It couldn't have been more explicit. In Teyvat, magic is programming.
But here's the crucial distinction, at least for the witches: their magic seems to function like a miliastra toolset—or more accurately, a restricted development environment. You're given a specific set of programming tools, and you can use them to create domains where you program what happens. But you can only program stuff that is allowed by that toolset.
Think of it like a video game's level editor. You can place enemies, adjust lighting, write dialogue, set up trigger events. But you can't suddenly add a new weapon type that isn't in the base game. You can't change the fundamental physics engine. You're working within the boundaries of what the toolset permits.
For example, the DPS dummy tracker doesn't let you change your team or equipment while you're inside, not because it's being malicious or because it "doesn't want to," but because the miliastra tools simply don't have that option. The functionality isn't there.
But the same toolset can give you infinite energy or 100% crit rate if you want. Because those modifications are included in the toolset. The developers added those toggles.
So what does this tell us about magic in Teyvat?
Magic cannot override the fundamental rules of Teyvat. It can't change the core architecture of how the world operates.
But magic can manipulate reality within these rules. It can reorder existing elements. It can create domains with custom parameters. It can speed things up, slow things down, give you infinite stamina or make you hit like a truck—as long as those parameters are part of the allowed toolset.
In other words, the witches aren't breaking the simulation. They're just very, very good at using its developer console. And Nicole, with her talk of debugging and trigger conditions, is essentially a senior engineer who understands the underlying code. Alice, meanwhile, seems to be the type who finds creative, unintended uses for the tools—the kind of programmer who makes the game do things the original developers never imagined, but never anything that violates the engine's core constraints.
I think this is what Dotorre was also doing in Nod Krai finale - he got access to developer's console through imitating trilunar authority and was trying to sell traveler an ability to basically use cheatcodes - instant teleport, instant kills of enemies, walking on air, etc, he was just for some reason not allowed to spell this out.
Access to reality's code
Now, let's talk about phlogiston and draconic language.
In real life, phlogiston was a hypothetical substance once thought to be present in all combustible materials and released during burning. It was wrong, scientifically, but it was an attempt to explain a fundamental process and its very obviously tied to fire, i.e. pyro.
In Genshin, phlogiston is something much bigger: it's a fundamental reality-building material. Think of it as a mix of both fuel as in original meaning and source code. It can be manipulated using draconic language to affect Teyvat's reality directly—not through the restricted toolset that witches like Nicole use, but by writing to the underlying architecture itself.
Here's the key distinction:
Normal magic is like using a pre-built software development kit. You have buttons, functions, and parameters. You can do a lot, but only what the kit allows.
Phlogiston manipulation is like having direct access to the game's code, like you're a hoyo developer. You can write your own functions. You can bypass the toolset entirely. But you need to know the language—the actual code—to do it.
This is why access to phlogiston is restricted. It's not a toolset that anyone can pick up. It's a programming language itself, one that can break the normal limitations of what's "allowed" in Teyvat. But the access is gated. Only dragons—the original inhabitants of the world, the ones who built this reality or were there when it was built—have native access to it. And then, people with very specific conditions (like those connected to the Night Kingdom with an "ancient name") can be granted a kind of authorized user status.
This explains something that's confused a lot of people: why doesn't Natlan have everyone riding around on bikes and wielding flying guns?
Because not everyone can use these tools. Working with phlogiston is what allowed Xilonen to create Mavuika's bike and Chasca's ridiculously massive gun. But those items aren't like normal weapons or vehicles. They're phlogiston-based reality hacks. They function because they're tied to specific individuals who have the proper authorization—their "name," their connection to the Night Kingdom, their permission slip to access this deeper layer of reality. And canonically, they were given access to this code language by a dragon. The Dragon Sage, to be specific, who taught the ancient people of Natlan how to use phlogiston.
So what are "ancient names" really? In this framework, they're essentially a login and password passed down through generations. An ancient name is your authorization token. It's what the system checks when you try to execute phlogiston-based commands. No name? No permission. No permission? The tech doesn't function. Mavuika's bike in a random person's hands would just be a hunk of metal. It wouldn't start. Because the bike isn't a machine that runs on physics; it's a manifested construct that runs on authorization. This is also why only people with ancient names could be ressurected and so only they were sent on missions to fight abyss.
How Fate Actually Works in Teyvat
Now, let's talk about fate.
I see people getting confused because they're used to thinking about fate as a prewritten script where every single action is set in stone. That's not how fate works in Teyvat.
In Linnea's Story Quest, it's spelled out explicitly. Fate has specific fixed points that it controls in a person's life. It can set conditions for each point, but it does not care what happens in between these points, and it does not care how these conditions are fulfilled. Only that they are.
Think about character constellations. A constellation is a pattern with fixed points—the stars—and vague, undefined lines connecting them. Everyone has these fixed points. The stars are the predestined events. The lines are the journey between them, which fate doesn't micromanage. You can take any path, as long as you hit those stars.
And if you try to avoid a star? If you try to fight fate? Then reality will bend to force you into the desired outcome. From Linnea's quest, Celaeno puts it bluntly:
"You're welcome to try to fight it if you want. Prepare to experience just how cruel fate can be. Leave this competition and fly somewhere far away. I promise you, something will happen to force you right back here."
This is the key. Fate is not a script. It's a reality manipulation program with target outcomes. It will adjust circumstances—sometimes drastically, sometimes subtly—to make those outcomes happen. The scale of adjustments can range from "you miss your bus and have to take the next one" to "summoning a giant world-devouring whale from across the galaxy."
Like. Remember that happened in Fontaine? Celestia didn't directly control that whale. The whale is a pet of Surtalogi, an Abyss Sinner. But as Skirk explained, the whale basically just... sniffed the tasty Primordial Sea from across the universe and decided to fly over and eat it. Exactly when Fontaine's prophecy was destined to come true.
Fate's role here was arranging circumstances:
Giving the whale a lead to the Primordial Sea at the specific time.
Making sure the Primordial Sea was the most desirable, tastiest thing available to the whale at that moment.
Ensuring nothing stopped the whale—like delaying Skirk so she showed up literally minutes after the prophecy was fulfilled.
Fate didn't write a script where "the whale attacks." Fate had a target outcome in a prophecy and then bent reality to make that outcome inevitable, using whatever tools were available, including a space whale from outside the known universe. But we will get to the Fontaine prophecy later in more detail.
If you're already actively doing what you're predestined to do, fate doesn't need to intervene. You're cooperating. The system doesn't have to force you.
This is why Mona, back in version 1.x, talked about fate the same way. When she reads the stars, she sees those fixed points in a person's constellation. She tells people their fate so they know it and can follow it willingly. Because the further you stray from your predestined outcome, the more drastically you will be forced back into it. The closer you follow your fate, the less friction you experience. Less suffering. Less cosmic intervention.
The architecture behind is this: Fate has access to Irminsul. And Irminsul is a digital database that contains all information about all people in Teyvat. It can read their thoughts. It can simulate their behavior. It knows, with perfect accuracy, how someone will act in any given situation. Like remember in Sumeru there was a plot point that Akademiya has enough information on Cyno that they can run simulations and predict his actions? Fate can do this and it has all information on everyone in real time. It adjusts. It tweaks variables dynamically. It moves pieces around the board until the desired outcome is mathematically certain.
Fate, in Teyvat, is not a storyteller who makes all of your decisions for you. It's a systems administrator running a prediction engine, with the power to edit reality to make its predictions come true.
How Focalors Tricked Fate
Fate can be tricked.
As I said, Fate only looks at formal conditions. It does not care about how they are fulfilled. It has no intent, no understanding of context, no ability to judge whether a condition was met "fairly" or "honestly." It just checks boxes. The Heavenly Principles are the only entity that seems to be in control of Fate, and they are canonically dormant. So Fate is currently running on autopilot—executing its programming without anyone overseeing the results.
This is what my best girl Focalors exploited.
Let's look at the Fontaine Prophecy. It was created back when the Heavenly Principles were still active, so it's a manually crafted punishment, not an autogenerated one. It has several complex conditions, unlike the fixed points of ordinary people, which can be as simple as "lose a competition."
The conditions of the prophecy are:
The Hydro Archon is put on trial by her people and judged guilty.
The Hydro Archon is weeping alone on her throne.
Fontaine is flooded, and all "sinners" dissolve in the flood.
This prophecy was created as punishment for the previous Hydro Archon, Egeria, for using the Primordial Sea to turn her Oceanids into humans. She was explicitly not allowed to use the Primordial Sea. So the prophecy is designed to be as cruel as possible—a delayed punishment that forces Egeria to live knowing that one day, all of her beloved people will not only die, but will turn on her before they do.
But in reality, Egeria died during the Cataclysm, long before the prophecy came to fruition. Fate, however, doesn't care. The prophecy says "Hydro Archon," not "Egeria." So it just... switches targets to the next Hydro Archon. Focalors inherits a sentence meant for someone else.
I think Heavenly Principles never expected to go dormant, and if they were active, they would not allow Egeria to die, because she carried the Heart of the Primordial Sea. Without that Heart locked, Hydro Sovereign could not be reborn, and they did not want that. So Egeria was meant to be an eternal Hydro Archon, punished, but not allowed to die. There was never meant to be another Hydro Archon.
How Focalors tricked the prophecy:
First condition: The Hydro Archon must be put on trial by her people and judged guilty. Focalors couldn't fake this—it had to be authentic. So she split a part of herself and created Furina, a fully separate being who had no knowledge of the plan. Furina genuinely tried her best and genuinely failed. Her trial was real. Her guilt was real. Condition one: satisfied.
Second condition: The Hydro Archon must be weeping alone on her throne. Again, Focalors couldn't fake it. But Furina, after 500 years of suffering, after being judged and rejected by the people she sacrificed everything for, would absolutely weep alone on her throne. This is why Focalors couldn’t tell Furina this is a part of the plan. Condition two: satisfied.
Third condition: The flood comes, and all "sinners" dissolve. But what defines a "sinner" for this prophecy? A sinner is a humanized Oceanid—someone with Primordial Sea water in their veins instead of blood. So to save her people, Focalors needed to turn them from Oceanids into real humans with real blood. She couldn't do this herself. But the Hydro Sovereign at full authority—the original god of Life of Teyvat—could.
So Focalors invited Neuvillette to her court. She made him the Iudex. She had him live among humans for over 400 years, knowing he would grow to love them. She didn't need to arrange Furina's trial; Fate would handle that on its own. She only needed to make sure two things were in place when the prophecy triggered:
Neuvillette was present (which she assured by making him Iudex).
She herself was present to witness and act (which she assured by placing her soul in the Oratrice).
When the first two conditions were fulfilled, Focalors pulled Neuvillette into her pocket dimension. She explained the plan. She asked if he would save her people. And she had watched him for over 400 years; she knew he was a softie. Then she destroyed the Hydro Archon's throne—her own divine seat—giving Neuvillette back his full authority as the Hydro Sovereign.
Neuvillette then performed the "baptism." He absolved Fontaine's sin by turning every humanized Oceanid into a real human, with real blood in their veins. Right before the flood hit.
So when the flood came, Fate checked its conditions: Are there any sinners left? Anyone with Primordial Sea water instead of blood?
No. There were none.
And Fate does not care why. It doesn't investigate. It doesn’t care if there are no sinners because they all dissolved or because none existed when the flood came. It just checks the box and moves on. Condition three: satisfied. The prophecy was fulfilled—technically, formally, legally—and yet everyone survived.
This is the genius of Focalors. She didn't break Fate.She just... read the fine print. Like a LAWYER. She understood that Fate is a program with inputs and outputs, not a conscious judge. She understood that the conditions were formal, not substantive. And she exploited every single loophole.
She gave Fate exactly what it asked for—a sincere weeping Hydro Archon on trial, a flood, no sinners—just not in the way anyone expected. That's not defeating Fate. That's outsmarting it.
How To Change Fate
So, to summarize, Fate works by changing the RNG (random number generation) of Teyvat. It changes the odds and makes random circumstances happen that will lead to the outcome it wants.
Think of it like an equation. If we have a prediction that Character Y will lose to Character X, it's essentially X > Y, where:
X = (a1) personal strength + (b1) current state + (c1) + ... + (x1) + (Z1) random circumstances
Y = (a2) personal strength + (b2) current state + (c2) + ... + (x2) + (Z2) random circumstances
What Fate primarily controls is Z—the random circumstances. It adjusts the RNG to suit its needs. If the natural calculation would have X at 10 and Y at 11, Fate can add a weighted variable to X's random circumstances, giving it an extra +2. Now X is at 12, and Y is still at 11. X wins.
(This is simplified, of course. Fate often works years in advance to set up these circumstances, adjusting multiple variables over long periods. For example, to assure Celaeno wins in pre-destined contest against her sister, Fate arranged her to meet and befriend a wild beast while it was still a child, so when it grows up, she would have a very strong animal companion, shifting the odds in her favor. But the core principle is the same: Fate stacks the RNG in favor of its desired outcome.)
So you can't beat Fate normally. No matter how strong you get, no matter how much you prepare, Fate can always calculate it in advance and adjust the RNG of the variables to counteract you.
Remember how in the Nod Krai Archon Quest, there was that whole section where they would not shut up about "variables" and how no matter how many variables Durin and Wanderer added, it didn’t change the outcome to the ghost they ere trying to save? This is what it meant. You can change the variables on your side—train harder, gather more allies, find better equipment—but you can't change the outcome, because Fate will always adjust its own variables to counteract yours. You add +2 to your strength, Fate adds +2 to the random circumstances working against you. The equation stays balanced in favor of the predetermined result.
This is why direct defiance never works. Fate has already run the calculations. It knows what you're going to do before you do it. And it has infinite levers to pull—weather, timing, luck, manipulating other people's actions—to ensure that no matter what you change, the fixed point still hits.
Now, what can disrupt it? Simple: if Fate can't see the variables, it can't adjust for them.
So what variables can't Fate see? The ones not recorded in Irminsul: the Abyss and the Descenders.
Descenders are not in the leylines. Fate has no control over them and cannot predict their actions. So if you want to change Fate, the surest way is to add a Descender to the equation.
But it's not a guarantee. A Descender can just stand there and gawk, like in Linnea’s quest. The Traveler was present but did nothing, and the prophecy still happened. So it's not enough to just have a Descender. It's important that the Descender knows beforehand what the goal is and is determined to shift circumstances toward it.
This is why Sandrone prepped the Traveler about what would happen in the battle against Dottore, and died to make sure her world-formula culminated near the Traveler. She understood that you need to translate a Descender's intent into variables that will outweigh Fate. It requires very good understanding of Descenders and how they interact with the Fate and Teyvat.
Sandrone had spent years studying the world-formula to figure this out. The only other example we have is Zhongli guiding the Traveler to save Hu Tao in Lantern Rite. Why does Zhongli knows how it works? Zibai called him “Heaven’s Star”, he’s clearly connected to Celestia. SPEAK UP, GRANDPA!
Another Way to Counteract Fate: The Abyss
Another way to counteract Fate is the Abyss.
From Alice in the recent event, we know that the Abyss is unrealized fates—the possibilities that did not come to pass, the roads not taken. If Fate has a predetermined outcome, what could be better than pulling in an outcome that is different? Perhaps you even get to choose what that outcome becomes.
In many ways, the Abyss is a virus—an outside, corrupted form of knowledge that can infect Irminsul. But its main strength is that Fate cannot predict it. Fate's calculations are based on the information in Irminsul. The Abyss comes from outside that system. It introduces variables that Fate never accounted for.
This is why all the major players who wanted to fight Fate used the Abyss: Deshret, Khaenri'ah, Nibelung when he returned to find his world colonized. They understood that you can't beat Fate on its own terms. You need something from outside the equation.
But there's a massive problem with the Abyss. It's some kind of information that Teyvat's engine simply cannot process. This is why it's called "Forbidden Knowledge" and why it drives people to madness and corruption. The system wasn't built to handle these discarded timelines. When you try to force an unrealized fate into reality, the system glitches. And the people caught in that glitch? They break.
It broke Deshret. It broke Khaenri'ah. And presumably, it broke Nibelung.
Again, remember that Nod Krai Archon Quest section where they would not shut up about variables? The only way to change what was happening was Durin's Abyss powers. That was the only thing that could interact with that old pre-programmed leyline recording directly.
I'm not going to go into it here because this is already long enough, but Durin is in a unique situation where he can process Abyss power without being corrupted. Maybe I will do a separate post on him.
Summary: How Fate and Magic Work in Teyvat
Teyvat is a digital/simulated world. Irminsul is a database. Memory cores are bytes. Objects can be broken down and reassembled like files.
Magic is programming. Witches use miliastra toolkits—restricted development environments with specific functions. You can only do what the toolkit allows (infinite energy? yes. changing your equipment mid-domain? no).
Phlogiston is source code. It's a reality-building material manipulated through draconic language. Access is restricted to dragons and authorized users with "ancient names" (essentially login credentials). This is why Natlan has crazy tech that only works for specific people—Mavuika's bike won't function in a random person's hands.
Fate is a reality manipulation program with target outcomes. It controls fixed points ("stars" in constellations) but doesn't care how you get between them. It works by adjusting RNG—adding weighted variables to random circumstances (Z) until the desired outcome is mathematically certain.
You can't beat Fate directly. No matter how strong you get, Fate has already calculated it and will adjust its variables to counteract yours. The Nod Krai AQ's endless talk about "variables" was about this.
Two things can disrupt Fate:
Descenders – Not in Irminsul, so Fate can't predict them. But they need to know the goal and be determined to act, otherwise they're useless (see Linnea’s quest).
The Abyss – Unrealized fates, discarded timelines. Fate can't predict it either. But Abyss data breaks Teyvat's engine—it's "Forbidden Knowledge" that drives people mad.
Important momemt - Fate does not control anyone directly. Even the whale it lured with Primordial Sea taste like you can lure a cat with catnip. This means that everyone has free will.







