#rambles: archons.

[inavagrant-a]

Cool little details I appreciate about how times have changed in Teyvat. Though the archons are still revered as any archon would, it is actually much more common in present day Teyvat to see your archon around amongst the people compared to perhaps Makoto's time, Morax's, and Barbatos'.

Yeah seeing Nahida around still gives her people mini-heart attacks but they quickly get used to her presence which is a big difference compared to when Ei is seen around in Inazuma. Yes Ei did allow Inazuma to plummet into a civil war and she's trying to pick up the pieces of that fuck up, but in her quest and even in most recent Inazuma events when a npc and/or character brings up the concept of Ei mingling amongst them they find it extremely odd and weird.

[avnasace]

its really funny to me the difference between the older archons and the younger ones, because we have:

raiden ei who even without her gnosis kept a perpetual near-uncrossable storm raging around her nation and executed a harbinger seemingly effortlessly. also she was downright scary cold as the shogun puppet, still the archon with the coldest aura imo.

nahida used the power of the gnosis and dreams to help free herself, save her nation, purify the literal tree of memory, erase her creator and help bring down a self-made god and harbinger using another gnosis. also fended off another harbinger with words and a transaction and a threat.

focalors and furina spent 500 years carrying out a plan through sheer strength of will and a gnosis alone, which shattered a divine throne, threatened the heavens and returned their power to a sovereign, leading to focalors dying for her people and finally freeing furina from her curse.

mavuika lost everyone she knew and held dear, returned from death, beat the strongest (?) harbinger in a fight even not at full power herself, rescued us from the abyss, cracked the bloody sky itself open, and fended off an abyssal invasion with her skill, her people and her gnosis, even at the possible cost of her own life.

meanwhile zhongli and venti are just chilling in their respective regions drinking wine and shit... the eldest archons basically gave up their gnoses to the fatui willingly, and theyve been all but bystanders since the start of the story! they purified a dragon each, and zhongli saved xiao, but other than that they just retired sjdjsjxk its kinda hilarious

[kaiserouo]

(prev | next | first)

10/10 best company ever to work in

also getting the icon was a fucking hassle

add contrast → soft invert color (transformation function kinda like 1 - sigmoid) → binarize → gaussian blur

i guess i did learn something from that computer vision class

[mikashisus]

connections between venti and arlecchino that i found particularly interesting, a rambling 🗣️

ARLECCHINO STORY QUEST SPOILERS‼️‼️

(these r just some cool things i found kinda sus and interesting. this was for fun.)

1. first, my thoughts on clervie — specifically what she says in response to learning about mondstadt:

2. the similarities between arlecchino and venti regarding “freedom”:

venti fought for freedom that was earned, and eventually became the god of freedom shortly after he earned said freedom.

he also tested vennessa. he tested her by saying he could grant her freedom and waited to see if she would leave the cell with him, but she didn’t. she stayed and showed him how freedom was meant to be earned, not given. venti was more than satisfied with her answer and left.

venti has shown time and time again that he believes freedom is meant to be earned. at least, that’s how i see his character and his ideals.

now i want to bring up what arlecchino said towards the end of her story quest. i find it interesting how she also believes that freedom is meant to be earned, not given.

pretty interesting.

3. now for my own personal rant and theories:

“freedom” itself is always being mentioned in this game. it started in mondstadt, the nation embodying freedom. the god of freedom himself entered the fray and showed us what freedom truly meant.

liyue was “freed” from their own god, who saw it time to step down from his position as archon and left the task of ruling & protecting liyue to the humans.

wouldn’t say there’s much freedom in inazuma tbh. unless you count the people being “freed” from the vision hunt decree and the sakoku decree.

nahida being freed from the hands of the sages/akademiya.

furina being freed from her curse and the act she played out for 500 years.

i wonder if we’ll see any freedom in natlan too.

ANYWAYS, ALL THIS TO SAY (i didnt mean for this to become a venti rant, i have constant venti brainrot) — i believe that venti and freedom play an ENORMOUS part in the lore of the game and we haven’t seen anything yet.

i am a firm believer that venti is one of the most important characters in this game. bro has lore in literally every nation, maybe with the exception of fontaine (iirc, there hasn’t been anything in fontaine calling back to barbatos).

he even has lore in the chasm and enkanomiya, which says A LOT. i haven’t finished the remuria world quest yet, so idk if there’s any lore about him or istaroth sprinkled there too. tbh i wouldn’t be surprised if there was.

everything always comes full circle when it comes to venti. he’s everywhere, which is pretty cool to think about when you realize that he’s supposed to be the embodiment of the wind, which is everywhere all at once and can hear everything.

which brings me to my last point —

4. this voiceline from arlecchino about the wind.

hmmm.. 🤨

[prettybbychim]

[this became much longer than i intended whoops]

u know i think it would’ve been much better if the ode of resurrection was not shown to us immediately, and wasn’t a main part of their culture. have people die throughout the archon quest, make us believe that there’s no saving them. kill off kachina at the start and convince us that she’s the first playable character in genshin thats not alive.

build up these bonds, forge these friendships, make us care.

just to take it all away

that’s war.

but there’s a tiny flame, that glimmer of hope. maybe it’s something the pyro archons have been working on, passing it down to their successors. something mavuika has been working on. yeah u heard that right she’s actually doing something wow get citlali in there to help out. get the whole goddamn tribe involved idc

there’s a scramble to find the last of the heroes. they don’t want to force it or fuck something up but they’re running out of time. the abyss is coming. it will consume the nation. they need to fucking buckle up and get down to it.

they could probably still go into the night kingdom to search for kachina, so that mualani can get her ancient name. or it can occur under entirely different circumstances. haven’t given that much thought yet. do they find her?

do they find her and can’t actually bring her back to the surface?

for the next part, we’re gonna have to shake things up because we need the captain on our team sooner rather than later. how that happens is up in the air but regardless, we put aside our differences to save natlan.

so, we help the captain find old dragon tech. maybe we enlist the help of kinich and ajaw, maybe we go into ochkanatlan, tie some of that shit in. we can take iansan along too, who is super duper strong and can carry all our fancy dragon tech or smth idk the three of them need more involvement !!! ajaw would drive me up the wall but it’s a necessary evil

in ochkanatlan, we see how the abyss can mimic lifeforms. the twin is in irminsul right? maybe it’s steals the twin’s image, but the traveler knows it’s not them because their twin would never say things like this. we learn that they abyss manifestations are (always?) twisted and mutilated.

we see the dragon. we don’t defeat it, that’s for the world quest lol but we get the image of the dragon in our minds so that when it shows up later down the line, we know what the fuck is happening lol

on our trip, we learn bits and pieces about the captain. it’s all disconnected, nothing makes sense. and since we’re nosey little fuckers, we find correspondence with the tsaritsa in his belongings.

capitano is gentle with his body. maybe a little too gentle. it catches the traveler’s eye but they don’t know what it means, they have no grounds for suspicion. it’s blown off as recovering from his duel with mavuika. (little do we know that he was hit directly in the heart and he’s worried, goddamnit)

ororon lets it slip that something feels off with the captain’s soul. (could the captain be using ororon’s sensitivities to monitor the souls housed inside him? would he eventually tell ororon what’s going on? or would that be too risky?)

ororon receives ancient name same as before, nothing really needs to change there i suppose. more suspicion is thrown on the captain because of the identity of the soul trying to possess ororon. maybe the captain didn’t share his plan in its entirety, he has a lot riding on this, he can’t afford to fuck it up, and keeps his cards close to his chest. he and mavuika can still argue in front of ororon like mom and dad lol

chuychu dies. she doesn’t get to give a long goodbye. she bleeds out in her sister’s arms. (they actually try to stop the bleeding and give her medical care) chasca goes berserk hell yeah, there’s a struggle. she manages to rein herself in, the love between sisters reigns supreme. chasca gets her ancient name

boom u got all ur heroes. they supercharge mavuika to beat back the abyss core thing. what was its name? gilgamesh? i don’t fucking know

the losses are extreme

fast forward a bit bc i’m losing steam and attention span here

we dive back into the night kingdom to track down the “brain” of the abyss corruption. the people we’ve met and lost in natlan help us out. kachina can be added to the mix. the gay lovers, chuychu and her pokémon team, boba and coconut — the whole gang’s here yooo i actually loved this part. favorite section by far

and after our trip in ochkanatlan, we know that the dragon we’re fighting is an abyssal manifestation. the voices of the previous pyro archons are their own but the words are all wrong, designed to discourage and distress us.

we defeat it using the power of friendship (i’m gonna kms)

also mavuika’s kit is completely different. i’m giving her a redesign fuck it. but that’s a post for another time.

traveler seems pretty good ngl i just wish the cons aren’t limited to fighting the dragon. i really liked what i was seeing and then they pooped all over my party (what’s the point!!!)

instead of a big parade, we gather around together at the stadium to finally try the thing all the pyro archons have been cooking. the heroes are a necessary component.

the incandescent ode of resurrection

among the many, kachina comes out of the flames. mualani sobs her heart out and vows to never let her out of her sight ever again

chuychu perhaps? 👀 pls pls she’s the only one besides cap and ororon that i give a shit about pllssssss playable chuychu when? her design is fantastic as is u dont need to touch it PLEASE—

now we can have a party!! after everything is all said and done, we can have One party instead of the five or so we’ve had since we came to natlan. (nation of war? more like nation of fiestas)

ororon, though, feels uneasy, and not because of the atmosphere. he says he’s going to find the captain, but he can’t explain why. concerned, the traveler and paimon try to follow him but are intercepted by citlali, who is for once not freaking out about ororon’s whereabouts, instead…

oh but wait. where’s mavuika gone? oh nooo

plays out relatively the same i suppose. could use some tweaking but not anything significant enough to mention right now.

except now we have somewhat of an understanding of the captain already, all the little bits and pieces we noticed, and the clues we (so rudely) discovered, it’s all starting to make sense now. we’ve also spent more time w him, the emotional attachment runs deeper, and it’s much more painful to experience.

bittersweet

mavuika is confused, especially in the days coming after. she had planned to die then. she said her goodbyes in a roundabout way. she finished the painting of her family, so they’ll never be forgotten. she saved her nation from the oppression of the abyss, resurrected so, so many. there was only one thing left to do… she was supposed to be the one to do it.

what does she do now?

what does she do with herself now, when she hadn’t planned for her own future? it was supposed to end, she was supposed to die. could she have reunited with her family? could she have seen them once again? she’s sad over what could have been, she’s confused because how did it end up like this, she’s mad because the captain stole it from her, she’s guilty because he was ultimately the better choice

what do you do when you’ve spent hundreds of years waiting for your destined day? when you’re only ambition has been this.

it’s time to learn how to live.

the end~

[ponchizs]

I’m in love with how they are giving so many subtle hints about Alhaitham and Kaveh’s relationship and how important it is to Alhaitham, despite the way they always seem to be bickering.

Throughout the 3.2 archon quest Alhaitham tells us that the reason why he is so interested in helping Sumeru is because he doesn’t want his daily life to change. After that Kaveh starts being mentioned very frequently by him or we hear other people in the akademiya complain about how they daily argue.

Then, of course, we meet them both arguing with each other in the House of Daena, which was quite the argument. We also know many of their casual interactions and how they go to the café/bar frequently together. Furthermore, Alhaitham pays all of Kaveh’s bills (something no one would do for someone they don't care for).

And now, during Alhaitham’s quest, their tones were so soft (At least in JP and CN) and also domestic. Kaveh seems to worry a lot about Alhaitham and exchanges glances with him, which made me melt inside. I also love how Alhaitham is constantly smiling while bickering with kaveh. Remember, we dont see him smiling like this that often. Which means he really enjoys it. I really liked how after the second time Kaveh asked him if he is okay, he replied with a tease about the painting Kaveh had mentioned before. Also smiling.

But most importantly, something I see no one talking about: the moment when Alhaitham was explaining why he resigned from being the Grand Sage to being the scribe again and he tells us that “It’s important to keep your priorities straight”, the camera points at Kaveh.

I know this game will probably never have any canon ship because they need to make everyone happy, but we do get hints like this from time to time and I think this was one of them.

After all, why would they bother to add all of those scenes with Kaveh when the quests had already concluded, if not for showing us how is what is Alhaitham’s daily life he wants to protect that much? We saw how happy he is, how eager he was to get home and go have dinner with Kaveh. We also see how Kaveh had been waiting for him as well.

I’d like to know more about their relationship, even if it ends up not being romantic (though how do you explain that face Kaveh made when paimon asked if they are friends).

[0alix0]

boy do i love how the only reason bioware replaced Lucerni with Shadow Dragons was because they wanted middle class citizens being the driving force of the changes for Tevinter.....

.......... and STILL ended up with them being run by a former member of magisterium, a rich altus diplomat and a fucking BLACK DIVINE

[welcometoteyvat]

>mahuika: maori fire deity >olorun: yoruba supreme creator god >kachina: hopi spirits >mualani: hawaiian chieftess >xilonen: aztec goddess of agriculture

>why are you white

[clown-alchemist]

There's something to the fact that Focalors and Zhongli gave up their role as archons in wildly different ways.

Zhongli fakes his own death, meaning he chooses to give up his authority, not necessarily his power. Once he's given up his authority and role as archon (and traded the gnosis), Zhongli no longer helps his people. The Adepti and the Qixing defeat Osial and his wife entirely without his help. Arguably, that's fair. If he's no longer acting as the archon of Liyue, it is no longer his responsibility to defend Liyue, any more than it's any citizen's responsibility. But again, Zhongli has given up his position and his gnoses, but not his power as an archon. For all his talk about letting the people of Liyue govern themselves, Zhongli does nothing to prevent another geo archon from taking his place or to shield his people from Celestia.

Focalors, on the other hand, completely surrenders her power and divinity. She makes the decision to sacrifice her own wishes, life, and power for the good of Fontaine. When Focalors gives up her power, she well and truly gives it up. She doesn't cling to it and fade into the background, leaving any future problems for the citizens to deal with- she ensures that the people of Fontaine have a guardian who loves them with the necessary power to protect them. It comes at a tremendous cost to both parts of herself, Furina and Focalors, but she doesn't hesitate. And even though we know Furina is exhausted, lonely, terrified, and would step down in a second if it was possible, the thought never crosses her mind. If her suffering was weighted against all of Fontaine's there's no question which way the scales would tip. Focalors gives up her archonhood as an act of sacrifice, a completely selfless decision to protect Fontaine and return the hydro archon's power to its rightful owner. When Zhongli gives up his archonhood, the geo archon's throne is still fully intact. Zhongli's choice is partially to let the people of Liyue rule themselves, sure, but it's also because he's tired of doing it himself. So when Zhongli gives up his archonhood, he takes his power and leaves his people to deal with the fallout.

Focalors sacrifices herself for a "sin" her predecessor committed, while Zhongli lets his people deal with the consequences of his rise to power. I think it's a really interesting comparison between justice and law/contracts and the different ways they would tackle the same problem. To me, the quest really cemented the issue I had with Zhongli's character and the way he's discussed. Basically, if he was acting selflessly, with the people of Liyue's best interests in mind, he would have carried out his "death" more like Focalors', with a proper successor ready and waiting (or at least the government informed), all of his remaining duties handled, no giant vortex monsters waiting to jump out at his people. Focalors made sure her people were protected and the head of government was (to the best of her ability) informed, and she was under way more pressure than Zhongli. There isn't a particular point to this, I just think it's really interesting how differently Focalors and Zhongli handled giving up their positions.

[tetsuskei]

this made me want to walk off the nearest twenty story building because, yeah, they’re correct.

[shalomniscient]

natlan 5.1 was batshit insane but i won't deny cookery when i see it. last 1/3 of the archon quest is just brilliantly done in my opinion, from writing to level design to soundtrack. just genuine excellence

[wintersettled]

Honestly the way different archons in genshin impact have such different interactions with their nation is very interesting to me, especially with how its further expanded in fontaine recently.

The archons who are closest to the way we traditionally (in the west) think of a god (ie. all-powerful and on a completely other level of existence to humans) would probably be Barbatos first, then Rex Lapis.

Barbatos/Venti having churches dedicated to him and not appearing (as far as most are aware) in society for centuries is very similar to how the christian god is seen, as someone worshipped but never directly interacted with on a level beyond the spiritual. Meanwhile Rex Lapis/Zhongli has tons of myths and stories dedicated to him across lands and made appearances for years until his "death". In this way he's somewhat comparable to Greek gods (or even Jesus, to keep the christianity analogy going). He's far more openly entrenched in humanity but still remains separate and "above".

It's more-so with the three other archons we've encountered that our understanding of what gods must be like in teyvat based on Rex Lapis and Barbatos is totally altered with Ei, Furina, and Buer, all three being the "replacement" archon for their respective nations.

Ei, the third archon we meet, takes a direct role in Inazuman government as the Shogun, a totally different approach than the previous two which i find more similar to various rulers claiming divine right of kings. Also, despite not being the original electro archon most dont actually know this because Ei took on the identity of her sister, who died during the calamity. I think Ei taking on her sisters identity definitely helped her maintain her "divine authority" where other archons (buer) failed to maintain it in their nations.

Speaking of Buer/Nahida, you'd think the whole changing the past to everyone except descenders thing would complicate our interpretation of her but it doesnt at all. I think the reason for this is that destroying the previous archon in irmunsul didnt actually change the past. I also dont think the wanderer/scaramouche actually changed the past. I think they just changed peoples memories of it. but anyway. Nahida also takes on a governmental role at the end of sumerus archon quests while still remaining a somewhat holy figure. She was obviously shut out/disregarded following the passing of the previous dendro archon, unlike Ei she wasn't able to maintain her authority. After the archon quest however, her position in government kind of reminds me of the queen of england early in her rule. There was still a democratic governing body in the prime minister and other representatives but she maintains power.

Furina/Focalors also reminds me of the queen of england but at the end of her career instead. Furina appears to be more of a mascot in fontaine than a proper ruling body. It actually seems that the machine and neuvillette hold more authority that she does. Obviously we havent really explored fontaine much yet (its only been out a few days but im loving it) and we've only gotten so much info from the archon quests but as far as i can tell, furina appears to be kind of scrambling to live up to the previous hydro archon who was seemingly so well liked that fontaines people are repenting to this day. (as am i misremembering or did they say the previous archon didnt side with celestia but her people did?? what!?). Its even actively pointed out how people in fontaine do not view their archon to even a similar level as people in other nations (i mean their archon does meet and greets and is very reckless with her accusations but-).

anyways 👍 yes.

TLDR: zhongli + venti = traditional gods ei + nahida (now) = government furina + nahida = queen of england idk also i dont think they actually changed the past, just people interpretation of it. btw whats up with the fontaine profecy and the whole "they sided with celestia" thing??

[elizabethrobertajones]

If your WoL got an archon mark, where would it be but more importantly what was their thesis that earned it.

[mikashisus]

genshin fans need to learn the difference between power and strength, especially when it comes to the question of “who is the strongest archon?” or “who is the most powerful archon?”

for EXAMPLE: i say that zhongli is the strongest archon. that doesnt mean i believe he’s the most powerful.

strength ≠ power.

“zhongli and the pyro archon are the strongest archons” and “venti is the most powerful archon” are two statements that can and should coexist.

strength relates to physical prowess. power relates to how much control you have over something/authority.

genshin fans pls learn the difference‼️‼️

also we know from nahida that an archon’s power (not strength) comes from the faith of the people.

i rest my case here thank you

🫳🎤🚶‍♀️‍➡️

[prisiidon]

Sea Stallord

Originally an ancient colossal ocean leviathan (non-zora) back when it had skin. Having been defeated by ancient Caerulian Zora, it fell into a wide foggy canyon surrounded by brinepools. Deep critters picked it apart til nothing but bones were left, until eventually it became a Sea-Stallord. It is unknown whether it happened by itself, or if it was re-animated by another.

Deepsea zora in that area saw it as a fallen god despite its weakened state. This deity however, had ate sacrifices prior to being felled: promising power and protection in return if it was kept protected and sated while it regained power.

But this magic was now corrupted and dark, and so the followers practices became corrupted and dark, deciding to hide it amongst themselves in the canyon's cavern system beneath the fog lest those above found out. This is Archon's (the current leader's) domain.

/expanding lore but need a name for their cult-like domain! more info on Archon's profile! Caeruleis has a secret treaty with them >:)

Contrary to the creed’s original desire to revive the Sea-Stallord to its former glory, Archon, (also arch-priest of the Stallord), wishes to keep it subdued and in rest-mode to maintain their own power over their people… and gain power over the Stallord itself.

The Stallord however will still rouse to remove any large threat before laying back down again. So the threat of the annihilation of an entire sea is still very much there if it had more energy, and could cause mass panic if the public knew this thing wasn’t that far away.

[evenings-at-the-seaofquanta]

Y'know what! I hope Furina gets one hell of a character arc AND is very important to the story AND has epic moments along with silly ones AND has her Archonhood confirmed as explicitly as it gets (bc some people still cant accept it apparently) AND has a banger kit and playstyle AND all the people who keep looking for reasons to hate on her/discredit her have to cope and seethe. Thanks for coming to my ted talk