#on Dain being some kind of priest of Irminsul

[twilightichor]

𝐂𝐋𝐗𝐗𝐈. “Trees” also symbolize wisdom. In one of the legends, a sage hanging upside down on a tree had acquired the knowledge of how to inscribe runes and control sacred words, and thus followed the kingdom established along the tree's roots, eventually gaining a glimpse of the secret of the cosmos / demonic skies. All knowledge, memory, and experience flow through this giant tree [...].

Reading this description, it got me thinking if the kingdom that is alluded in the Silver Twig's description is Khaenri'ah. While it doesn't have to be necessarily it (there is a terrifying readable that talks about a kingdom even further down below than Khaenri'ah viewed in a dream), it's also true that Khaenri'ah is the kingdom we know of that was established underground. There is knowledge about Khaenri'ah using the Ley Lines as a source of energy (they made blocks out of the elements they carry, to be precise) until relatively close to the Cataclysm that they switched it for abyssal energy, so it is safe to presume that they were in touch with Irminsul be it directly or indirectly.

Where I want to go with this is the recurring thought I have sometimes of the role as Bough Keeper (also known as Seeker of Truth, Guardian of the Branches, Observer of Fate or The one who picks up the branches) stems from the Khaenri'ahn times, hence the possibility that there was a more spiritual (not religious, although the devotion many have for the Abyss is if not outright religious, borderline) faction that held ceremonies around Irminsul or one of its emanations in a similar fashion as Sal Vidagnyr did by sending a priest to offer the tree a crown of white branches as tribute and seeking answers that Irminsul did give them once the gods stopped answering to humans (Irminsul also was the one that warned the last king priest of the coming calamity that would happen to the civilization and, as it announced him, he came back to the whole devastation).

There is one last detail that could make this possibility viable and is the fact that there is a sword art known among the Black Serpent Knights named "Truthseeker", which could be adapted to other weapons as well. While not directly related to Irminsul per se, there is this link with one of the translations Bough Keeper has as Seeker of Truth.

[reginrokkr]

𝐋𝐗. Besides the angst factor tied to it, there is a reason why I decided to headcanon that Dain’s hair is becoming whiter as it goes. An important element to it is stress, but another element that tops its relevance is the Marana, said to precipitate everything to death. In this case it would be the death of melanocyte cells which are responsible for the pigmentation in one’s hair but also the skin (and eyes too). I never mentioned the skin before —as I only addressed it through descriptions—, but it would be included in this as it does another factor related to the past which is a potential lack of natural light existing in Khaenri’ah, thus no UVB that can stimulate the melanin production.

𝐋𝐗𝐈. While I was writing a thingy, it struck to me the fact that Dain would transition from being a devout to Irminsul since Khaenri’ah days to lose his faith in everything, including the sacred tree. Why if Irminsul is a separate divine entity from the gods of Celestia and the Archons? For the simple fact that it’s also of divine origins. Imagine growing up with Irminsul since he was a child, being blessed and favored by the tree only to have these memories removed. To act as an oracle-priest in Khaenri’ah and then lose every ounce of faith in the divine he had upon seeing the destruction of the kingdom. When someone loses everything, one of the worst things to lose at a moment like that is faith which is what keeps people going. It makes me emotional the thought that during his first journey across the Cataclysmic Teyvat in search of his destiny, he recovers his faith in Irminsul (which is also keeping his consciousness sane and preventing him from falling to madness and corruption) and he reinforces the belief of protecting humankind, even if it’s the same people those who went mad in Khaenri’ah wanted to ruin by plunging the whole world in darkness as per King Irmin’s desires too.

𝐋𝐗𝐈𝐈. If someone were to be in a close relationship with Dain and were to split his long hair in half on each side, there is a mark between his nape and the upper part of his neck which is telling of his celestial origins and to those who are even more knowledgeable, they might guess right if they considered him as one of the four Descenders.

𝐋𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈. If convinced, Dain can and will use Ether as part of his intimate encounters. If we’re to think of Ether as a life enhancer kind of element which is tied in its entirety with the fan of elements through Irminsul, then it is safe to assume that specially if he’s to have intimate moments with allogenes (it counts with other beings that aren’t too, as it was teased in one of Dottore’s cryptic reports that all humans have elemental energy within them to some extent), they will feel heightened sensations in the process. Be it a hotter warmth or a higher sentience both, that will be the result of Dain applying the smallest iota of Ether into the mix.

PS: In reality, Dain is hesitant to use a gift (most likely than something that comes from himself, we don’t know— I’ll go with the premise that this in specific comes as per his connection to Irminsul) in such manner. However, its initial purpose in moments like this is to assuage his own pain as to not cut off a potential romantic moment with his partner due to his chronic pain in order to satisfy them as well as it’d satisfy him. It’ll take some persuading for him to do this for his partner, but it’s not off the table either. Even less if it happens in a moment when he needs it, as it would only take him a bit to extend Ether’s influence over his partner too.

PS #2: There is another situation in which Dain can use Ether into the intimate encounters on his partner on his own volition (of course letting them know beforehand and with their consent, he would do nothing against the other’s permission) and it’s in moments in which he can’t make up for the lack of intensity that sometimes these encounters require precisely because of his chronic pain. He will never hurt himself in the process deliberately, but in heightening the other’s sentience that can do wonders without the need to be rougher in the things he does and still get a similar feeling.

𝐋𝐗𝐈𝐕. Don't look at me, but one of the last things about this reference I posted makes me wonder about the possibility that there are various waves of the fall of Sapphire Nails. To elaborate on this, Ay-Khanoum (Goddess of Flowers) mentioned that the Master of the Heavens (which I suppose is Phanes) sent the first Sapphire Nails because he feared the delusion increase and breakthroughs of the plague Celestia brought perhaps, to put a momentary or not stop to it and in turn led to the death of many people. But she also tells King Deshret to not fear these nails as if more can come, and this is in a context of after Celestia's arrival to Teyvat as well as it coincides with the Sal Vindagnyr story and the awful change of demeanor of the envoys of the heavens.

𝐋𝐗𝐕. During Dain's encounter with the Abyss Herald when the latter was trying to escape, we've gotten to see a glimpse of his power and the way various parts of his body glowed accordingly in sapphire hues. The Ley Lines that cover his arm and foot, the lines beneath his right eye and the center of his chest. However, Dain's eyes themselves are unique on their own, too.

By default they have a sheen that amplifies the intensity of his eyes, this is visible the most when it's dark as one would expect to see muted colors, but his eyes don't become as muted. There are a few select instances in which his eyes will glow:

✦ When he's healing / purifying someone, his eyes will gleam and their color (close enough to the innermost part of Irminsul) will be reminiscent even more to the Sacred Tree. Whether people are knowledgeable enough to notice this will depend. Additionally, there may be a certain difficulty to observe this which is that most of the times when Dain heals someone, his eyes will be closed as a means of concentration.

✧ When he's using a dangerous amount of power that. His eyes will glow and both from his eyes as well as from his body there will be an halo that's flows in concordance with the wind's flow and its direction.

𝐋𝐗𝐕𝐈. The first time I addressed Dain's canon divergencies was in two different posts without joining them into one. So in view that new peeps have joined the fray and may not be aware of them, I'll be putting them here together! Firstly, a small disclaimer about this as I think it's equally as important as to address the divergencies themselves.

My main reasoning for addressing these canon divergencies for Dain is due to HYV’s choice of making the Traveler a self-insert and as a result of this, it’s clear that plot wise they’ll have to be everywhere and even do god’s work despite the many reservations this may have behind, such as the fact that in some instances it feels forced for the Traveler to be there instead of having another character capable of doing the job to give them the spotlight instead. I feel that with Dain it happens the same in very few instances so far that can or can’t increase in the future as the story advances, but for now I’ll focus on three of them:

→ Sacred Sakura cleansing ritual: It is said that 500 years ago during the grunt that Inazuma was taking due to the Dark Cataclysm, this tree —just as Irminsul, which seems to have a connection to it— almost withered but someone was able to perform the cleansing rite necessary to rid it from all the impurities that the tree is working hard on purifying. It is also said that minor cleansing leading to a major one are required to be done every 60 years in order to keep the Sacred Sakura in good health, but at the same time it’s strange that the methods for performing this rite are lost and not preserved despite how relatively often the ritual is done. Which could be due to the fact that someone who doesn’t need these instructions knows how to perform the cleansing and thus, there is no need for them to preserve anything. Furthermore, as the Bough Keeper which most likely references to his role towards Irminsul, I believe that it’s appropriate for Dain to be the one performing this task in the past from 500 years ago up to the present days without the need to seek someone else.

→ Tsurumi Island Ley Line disorder fix: Following the premise that Dain is the Bough Keeper and as such, it makes sense for him to take care of affairs related to Irminsul, plus the ancient civilization that most likely he learned about and visited to witness with his own eyes during his 500 years of life, it is plausible for him to be the one to fix this issue that has been present for at least 1,500 years, if not more. Timeline wise, this will happen post his journey with the Abyss Twin and 40 years later (100 hears in abyssal time), which will coincide with the conclusion of Dain’s pursuit for answers related to Khaenri’ah and his the end of his learning process about the truth of Teyvat. This will lead him to another restless journey to visit places where he knows that ancient civilizations that have been destroyed existed and it’ll also punctuate the beginning of his pursuit of the Abyss Order to deter their plans the more he learns as he goes. This event will be about putting to rest Kapatcir’s wrath which is what is causing the Ley Line disorder in Tsurumi Island and sending the souls off with the boatman who will ultimately lead them to the moon-mansion where they can find rest.

→ Enkanomiya Watatsumi Goryou Matsuri: Every several centuries, this ritual must be performed in order to prevent the soil of Watatsumi Island to become infertile partly due to the salinization of the soil and partly to impede the influence of Enkanomiya to spring forth on the surface. According to Enkanomiyan ancestors, a “hero” is needed for this process who is said to be blond. This is mostly because the civilization of Enkanomiya was obligated to hide all historical records of their past from before their fall into the pit of the Abyss as a result of a war between The Saints and The Second Who Came. The purpose behind sending just one person is because all the secrets that lay in Enkanomiya must be kept secret, thus it’s counterproductive to send different people and run the risk of spreading the information about what they’ve seen in the depths —Orobashi was sentenced to death and made to fight the Raiden Shogun as per the Heavenly Principles because he found out about certain truths in Enkanomiya—. So for this matter, the fact that it involves an ancient civilization that Dain would visit and the Abyss Order involvement twice so far, he will be the responsible one of performing this ceremony. Before the current events, Dain has already performed this rite once and he’s known by Enkanomiya’s shades of Tokoyo. Likewise, this would require him to be in touch with the line of priests / priestesses in order to get the necessary permits to descend to Enkanomiya.

→ Aranyaka's return 500 years later: For most of the Aranara, tales about the Golden Nara who assisted in the many tasks required to perform the ritual in the Utsava Festival are just that, tales and not memories. During the Cataclysm, when the skies where black and there was no sun or moon while it rained crimson, it was Dáinsleif who helped these forest guardians to restore the Varuna Contraption, to nurture Ashvattha in order to give its fruit and to soothe Mawtiyima's ailment via a necessary cleansing. At the end, a great fight against Marana's Avatar waged with the company of the Aranara who shared their strength with Dáinsleif and with that, the sun and moon returned to Sumeru. 500 years later, it was time to repeat the process with new and old souls that no longer remember him, albeit can feel in him something they cannot pinpoint until it's revealed at long last that he helped them restore the peace in Sumeru. All so that it won't spread to the rest of the world, for the ailment remains the same: death's essence through Marana.

𝐋𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈. I don't think I ever mentioned this beyond adding it as a tiny detail in Dain's about page, but for multiple reasons he's reached to the point of forgetting completely his birth date. He would sooner say that it's on the 345 / 346th moon rise (21st December, for the winter solstice and last new moon of the year) before bothering himself to remember what day that is, which will be up to those who are interested in delving a bit further to find out what exact day is.

𝐋𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈. I don't know if anyone mentioned this before, but I find interesting that souls overall in Genshin are displayed in this blue hue that represents Irminsul, its core and the Ley Lines (also referred as spirit veins as per Yae Miko's character quest). It comes to show just how much Irminsul encompasses, going beyond time or knowledge, but also the spirits of the deceased that are still lurking here. It does beg the question to what scenarios people who pass away encounter upon their deaths.

So far I can think of Hu Tao's quest with the afterlife setting —also touched by Ley Lines—, the golden moon mansion as per what we've found in Tsurumi Island overseen by some lady according to the Boatman —interestingly enough, the souls said that they can visit the dreams of living people— and then there is another one that I remember vaguely reading somewhere of a man mentioning an underworld-like place even further below than the place he hails, presumably Khaenri'ah. So far it would seem that it's beyond: heaven, terrestrial and underworld plane and I can't wait to learn more about how these work in Genshin.

𝐋𝐗𝐈𝐗. Looking more into (a)ether as the missing classical element, it's fascinating how celestial spheres which are made of aether hold stars and planets. And how ether is what fills the void (which would already make a contraposition to one another there) and not only that, but it's through it that light is able to propagate. If we think briefly about how the seven colors representing each main element we're acquainted with in Teyvat makes light, all of this is so particularly fitting as Irminsul's element.

Because through its Ley Lines it's able to sustain the world by making the elements reach every corner of. There is also the premise that there are stars in this ichor or perhaps ether. And it's also interesting to remember that what Dain used in 2.6 counters the void used by the Abyss Order to conceal that underground palace.