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missgieemi · 2 years ago

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Of Dust and Flowers, The Seelies Who Survived

Preface

To give some context on this theory, this idea sprang to mind when I came across a twitter post sharing an entry from Honey Hunter World detailing an unreleased 4th volume to the "Customs of Liyue" book. The volume in particular talks about Glaze Lilies in a historical and cultural context. The information presented within made me think of this theory:

"Could Guizhong have been a Seelie?"

After doing some researching, I've come to conclude that it has a high likelihood of being true! So to explain this, I will discuss it in this order:

Guizhong and the Goddess of Flowers are of similar descent

Seelies and their similarities with the two

With that laid out, let's take a look at...

Part 1. Guizhong and the Flower Goddess

Firstly, let us establish who they were and what they did during their life.

Guizhong

The God of Dust, Guizhong, was one of the founding deities of Liyue. Originally, she took dominion over an area now known as the Guili Plains together with Morax. She was incredibly kind and wise, and took great interest in machinery.

During her reign, she taught the people under her protection how to live and survive. In particular, she taught them agriculture. She also had 4 wise tenets whom the people of the Guili Assembly followed:

"To unite in ambition is to be steadfast and immovable for all time."

"Wisdom is like water, it nourishes all those who receive it and in it is a reflection of the truth."

'"Fortify the bones, that movement be supple when the time comes."

"Virtue grows tall like a tree, though there be shade it will flourish forever"

Guizhong is heavily linked to Glaze Lilies, and seems to have been the one who created them! This is mentioned in the unreleased volume of "Customs of Liyue"

Disclaimer: the photo above is unreleased content from the game. it's been at least a year since it was leaked, but they've not added it after all this time so please take it with a grain of salt.

"[Guizhong] released glittering blue seeds from her long sleeves, scattering them over the Guili Plains."

Here are other instances of Guizhong being linked to Glaze Lilies:

The Goddess of Flowers

As of version 3.2, not much is known about the Goddess of Flowers yet. The specific details we do know are highly suspect however.

The Goddess of Flowers was one of the 3 wise God-Kings who co-founded Sumeru thousands of years ago. She was also the first among the 3 to die via unknown means.

She had several titles such as "Mistress of Dreams", "Lord of Flowers", "Mistress of Dreams and Oases". It seems that her abilities did not just stop at proliferating flora, she calmed people's minds and produced flowing water from her sleeves.

She and the Lord of Deserts established Ay-Khanoum, the city of Jinn and the Moon. Following her death, Ay-Khanoum dissolved into smaller societies.

She was also affiliated with the Padisarah flowers.

The Connection

So now, to summarize the info, let's take a look at the similarities between Guizhong and the Goddess of Flowers! In essence, both of them were:

Gods who were known for their wisdom and gentle nature. They got along with 2 other god friends.

Gods who co-founded an ancient human society along with their god friends.

In possession of esoteric knowledge and guided mankind.

Both the first to die among their god friends, which was followed by a calamity that damaged their established civilization.

Associated with a flower that became rare or extinct following their deaths.

Seeing this now, it's very unlikely that their connections could be mere coincidence, no? After all, their stories went exactly the same save for a few variables like geography.

Hence, I'd like to propose that this is Hoyoverse telling us there's something about them that may be crucial. What struck me as odd about the unreleased volume were several moments that are only ever seen in the Sumeru!

Referring to Guizhong and Morax as "God-Kings"

A god proliferating a certain type of flower across a large area.

Suffice it to say, I think it was very intentional that Hoyoverse decided to remove this before we got any more proper Goddess of Flowers lore. I'm doing a minor prediction that we may come across this volume officially some time in the future.

So.. why try to connect Guizhong and the Goddess of Flowers? Well, this is important in proving Guizhong's origin as a Seelie, as we shall see in...

Part 2. Seelies and Such, Silly or Similarity?

Before we tackle the meat of this speculation, let's set up one last assumption to make our case. This assumption being:

"The Goddess of Flowers was a Seelie"

While it's only been teased at, it's been hinted quite enough to make it pretty much true.

Arama, during the Aranyaka storyline, mentions a survivor of the Seelie calamity befriending King Deshret and Rukkhadevata.

Nilou mentions her costume being based on the Goddess of Flowers' clothing. This includes a pair of horns that are also seen in Seelies.

The Goddess of Flowers is associated with the Moon. The 3 Moon Sisters were said to have lived alongside the Seelies.

So now, given the trail Hoyoverse has given to connect Guizhong and her, do we see such similar traits? As it turns out, yes!

Floral Resemblance

The first comparison I'll be making concerns the similarities with flowers.

Within the game, there is another flower that behaves and looks similar to the Glaze Lilies that Guizhong are linked to. This flower is the Nilotpala Lotus.

Both flowers, aside from sharing the same color scheme, have the peculiar behavior of only blooming at night. In other words, when the Moon is out. The Nilotpala Lotus, in particular, was produced by the Moon Sisters as they stepped on the earth.

So now, we've connected Guizhong and the Moon Sisters through parallels in their respective flowers. But this doesn't reflect the qualities seen in the Padisarah. Why not?

It's because haven't seen the real Padisarahs. The ones we encounter are just mimicries done by Rukkhadevata. This is similar to how Glaze Lilies are now almost exclusively cultivated in farms. The only reason they still live in their endangered state is due to Morax's influence.

Seelie Service

Moving on, Guizhong also bears a striking resemblance to how Seelies guided humans. Simply, Seelies used their obscure knowledge to help mankind develop many things.

This is eerily similar to Guizhong's actions, as well as her 4 philosophical commandments, no?

"To unite in ambition is to be steadfast and immovable for all time."

"Wisdom is like water, it nourishes all those who receive it and in it is a reflection of the truth."

'"Fortify the bones, that movement be supple when the time comes."

"Virtue grows tall like a tree, though there be shade it will flourish forever"

I think it's not strange to see how all of her tenets mention nature and complex concepts like time or truth to convey how to strengthen her people's bonds. Not to mention, it's mentioned repeatedly how beautiful Guizhong was.

With this in mind, I think it's safe to say Guizhong at least has done things similar to Seelies. Additionally, she is one of the only deities who have been shown to possess so many traits similar to them.

Now, Guizhong being associated closely with the Moon Sisters puts into question her status as "God of Dust". Why dust? To this, I introduce this piece of information found within Moonpiercer as well.

I am also theorizing that, while Seelies may not be of the same lineage as the Moon Sisters, they posses traits that are found within them!

Titillating Titles & More Similarities

Let's use the Goddess of Flowers as an example. We know that she is not simply just a Flower Goddess. Ironically, it seems as though producing flowers is just something she happened to also do. Many descriptions of her focus on her ability to give dreams and produce water.

In other words, the titles they got as gods are merely one facet of their being, compared to other gods like Marchosius, Boreas, Decarabian, and even some of the archons.

Just as the Goddess of Flowers possesses traits found in the Moon Sisters (flowers, water, dreaming), Guizhong also exhibits these qualities (esoteric wisdom, agriculture, dust).

Something I forgot to mention is Volume 2 of 'Records of the Gallant'. In it, not only do we see Guizhong being mentioned, she is also depicted alongside Glaze Lilies, the starry sky, AND Seelies.

Something I also just realized in the making of this theory is the mirrored descriptions of Guizhong and the Goddess of Flowers' appearances. One of these was the matter of sleeves.

They are the only gods to my knowledge to have ever used their sleeves as part of their powers. Guizhong sent forth Glaze Lily seeds from her sleeves, while the Goddess of Flowers poured fresh water from hers.

Also, the color of their clothing reference each other's flowers. Guizhong wears an indigo robe, which resembles the Padisarahs. The Goddess of Flowers, if Nilou's dress is to be trusted, wore blue and white clothes, resembling Glaze Lilies.

Part 3. In Conclusion

Given how many elements about Guizhong matches the Moon Sisters, Seelies, and especially the Goddess of Flowers, it's incredibly hard to now just look at these examples as happenstance, ya know?

I originally researched this topic because of Guizhong and the Goddess of Flowers' parallels in sleeves, but the more I looked into it, the more apparent the parallels became.

From their wisdom to their flowers, it just makes too much sense for me!

So here's the scenario that I'm proposing to end this theory:

A long time ago, when the nation of the Seelies and Moon Sisters fell into ruin, many perished from the disaster. Despite this, a number of Seelies managed to survive. They descended upon the earth in different parts of Teyvat, some even in the area now called the Dark Sea.

Two of these Seelies, each of whom resembled the Moon Sisters in beauty and ability, landed far from each other. And though their stories would deviate in some ways, their fates aligned nonetheless.

She who wielded the irrational wisdom of dreams established a thriving nation in the scorching desert, and she who wielded the rational wisdom of technology did the same amidst the rocky landscape. When they perished, their nations would suffer tremendously.

One of their friends would mourn and change his personality drastically, and another would sacrifice themselves, reverting into a smaller, weaker form.

The flowers that they oh so cherished would almost be wiped away, but friendship gives way to preserving your legacy.

Part 4. Closing Remarks

If you, the one reading this right now, have managed to make it all the way to the end of the post, give yourself a pat on the back!

My name is Noxis, and this marks my first, official post on Tumblr! This is part of a personal project I'm doing to interact with the Genshin Community, and it also serves as my first time actually visiting Tumblr regularly!

If you did read all of this, please excuse my way of organizing and discussing as I'm pretty new to the platform. I'll be sure to learn along the way however, and with it more Genshin lore speculations and theories >:))

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