Originally I had meant to do this before Lantern rite ... ehe~ better late than never :D
This post will have a mention of an old datamined weapon from beta aswell as an excerpt of a conversation from this years lantern rite.
This will be split into 3 parts:
1. Miscellaneous retuo lore that interests me
2. Moon retuo lore (I tried to find them all)
3. Moon retuo lore from a datamined weapon (giving it a separate section so it can be skipped since it technically counts as a leak)
Without further ado lets gets to it owo
Miscellaneous retuo lore
1. Okay so first off in Zhongli's 2nd story quest, "No mere stone" he makes this comment.
Back then this was a glimpse into Retuo's life pre-erosion. But now 4 years later we have more information on the dragons and more specifically Nibelung, the King of the dragons.
A book in nodkrai called "Hymns of the far north" described said dragon as a blacksmith. I want to keep this in mind solely because so far Retuo is the only confirmed dragon sovereign that doesn't overtly mention nibelung (xiuhcoatl mentions him near constantly, neuvi mentions him in his last character story and apep is the first character ingame to mention him). Given how he supposedly has lost a lot of memories, this could be him subliminally remembering him. Also i need him to be relevant to the creation of the moons like he's the geo dragon sovereign for god's sake 🫠
2. Alrighty on to the next one!
This is a line from not so nice Retuo during the story quest. Back then it was seen as just an insult to zhongli for imprisoning him. But now given what we've learnt about what phanes did to teyvat, terraforming it and making it uninhabitable for dragons....well it takes on a whole new meaning ;;
3. Another case of interesting foresight when it comes to the writers
This is the description of one of his boss drops. Interestingly mentions gold and obsidian, the latter of which is quite relevant to Natlan a nation where we got the most amount of dragon lore to date. Tbh i still need to look this particular connection a little more, so i might make separate post for it...someday
4. And last but definitely not least, tbf this is something that has been pointed out before but i just think it would be kinda neat if hoyo ever did confirm it.
So from a really old behind the scenes video for Retuo/Azhdaha we find out that
This is a persian dragon creature called Zahhak or Aži Dahāka (which already very interesting given sumeru is the region with the most persian influence, tho that might be about to change 👀). In the wikipedia page it mentions that,
this creature was imprisoned within Mt. Damavand. And interestingly enough we have a mountain with that name in sumeru desert:
Funnier still how just north of here is Apep's base so to speak. Anyway there is one final part to this.
This is a lyric from Ode to azhdaha, the bgm of the first phase of his boss battle. From earlier context the palace seems to be referring to his dominion. Hypothetically if that mountain was his once upon a time, its interesting how there is indeed an oasis ingame in that mountain and arguable one of the most important oases in the game. Heres a fun bit of trivia too in one of the stories involving Zahhak, kaveh (yes the mythological character that influenced the one in game) rebels against him :3
And now for the moon lore~
Moon retuo lore
Tbh this is just going to be me posting a bunch of screenshots from the game since the text tends to be self explanatory.
1. First off we got the text description for his tail or better know as dragon queller.
pls retuo come back soon we have a new moon in the sky
2. Similarly a boss drop description further references the moon
3. The <- archaic stone that retuo gifted to us looks suspiciously like Rainbowdrop Crystal ->
so the crystal was made from the moon chariot hMMMMM
4. In the moonchase event Retuo was show facing the moon
also the wittle guoba awww
5. Okay so this is prolly the most interesting one to me just because we got some new info from the lantern rite event that relates back to it.
These are the lyrics to Ode to Azhdaha once again and it describes the size of his territory. Specifically the last line references "Wangshu."
This is the wiki's note on the word. All good and dandy, but! we got new info from Zibai and Xiao owo
The thing that makes this mighty sus to me is the boss ost lyrics are from retuo's perspective so it makes sense for him to be more familiar with the older meaning then the newer one. What does it mean for his territory to reach the goddess who rides the chariot? no clue :3
Moon retuo lore from a datamined weapon (skip if you don't want to consume leaks)
Yay last part owo
Having checked the jp and cn versions of the text, the lunar palace does match up with the lunar palace mentioned recently in quests. There is however a mistranslation, the comrade should be singular. From cn and jp it seems likely that the person is morax talking to him. And once again the "palace on the moon" is referring to the lunar palace. I did wonder if it might have been the shadow moon where Zibai was trapped but I checked the jp and cn wording and the words didn't match up. Why would morax want to reach the lunar palace? shrugs
Anyway thats all from me, all the lore i want to keep in mind going forward. If anyone has other retuo lore (especially when it comes to the moon 👀) lemme know!! If we ever get new info I'll be sure to update it then (๑¯◡¯๑)
Out of everything he misses of his homeland, Dottore probably misses the food most of all. He's tinkered with his body to the point where he doesn't need food to survive (and created segments who don't need to eat either) but there is something nostalgic and emotional about the taste and smell of the dishes he grew up with and enjoyed during his time at the Akademiya. Late nights studying at Lambad's Tavern absentmindedly nibbling on chicken shawarma. Surviving exam season with an impressive stash of charcoal-baked Ajilenakh cakes. And of course there's the tea and coffee that no other nation he's visited since then has been able to match...let alone the spices.
There is no doubt he has as much of it imported to his Fatui labs as possible, but it’s never as fresh as he remembers. I think he'd even miss the exile of the desert, sometimes, if only to have his comfort food within reach. A piece of his homeland that never rejected him.
Traveler's Teyvatian Insights @teyvatianinsights - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
