#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.

[mammonprotectionsquad]

Why did she throw him like that? I'm crying xD

I had to add the sound, I couldn't not do it. It was just the perfect opportunity xD

[harmonysanreads]

alhaitham is the guy every aunty in the neighbourhood wants to set their daughter up with and you can't change my mind

stable job, good income, his own house, no siblings and parents so no in-laws, tall, handsome, good character, keeps to himself, can cook, attractive, tall, well read and well educated, et cetera et cetera

yes I wrote tall twice

This is canon. (His book told me)

I like to think that the aunties had this revelation after Alhaitham was appointed as the Acting Grand Sage, because before that, his existence seemed to be verified primarily through Kaveh and also for the ‘how did we never notice such son-in-law material right in front of us??’ factor.

If this was anyone else, their egos would be past Celestia (as becoming the most eligible bachelor in Sumeru in the span of a month is no small feat) but Alhaitham, the man that he is, responds to the attention with his signature nonchalance. It's hard to determine whether that is humbleness or another form of arrogance altogether.

[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]

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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.. 🤨

[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).

[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.

[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.

[natashadewinter]

the archon human and the people she couldn’t save

[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.

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

[fronexus]

Rambling about Natlan (Spoiler Warning?)

Goodnight everyone, I just finished the Natlan Archon quest and I AM NOT OKAY (/pos). Sharing some screenshots/pics I took. LONG ASS POST (I think?) I'm still on an adrenaline rush so excuse me for not having deep smart thoughts, I feel like I drank 340 liters of caffeine

Goodbye Fontaine, beautiful Archon quest smh

Little cutie <3 I named him Fizzle (is it a male? i think? i forgot already). LET ME KEEP HIM IN MY TEAPOT PLEASEEE

Shitty photos (sadly didn't take electro) but I LOVE when Traveler uses their powers.

Facial expressions being amazing tbh, I wish I took more cause they're so fun SDFGH

MUALANI YOU'RE SO FUCKING PRETTY, awesome character I love her personality and everything so much. I'll most likely pull on rerun

Traveler outfit?!??!?! Who died for this- I wish this was a skin (maybe more detailed like Barbara and Jean's, yk)

I also LOVEEE Kachina, she was so adorable and I deff was cheering for her 24/7. Will I ever play her? prob not but I'm still happy they gave her for free!

Them bringing this plot point back was not on my list at all. I legit even forgot about it- It was an amazing surprise

Raiden and Mavuika pics. Because why not (I could have also done Nahida or Furina, but eh- too late for that)

Talk about Mavuika, she quickly became top favorite.

I AM SOO SAD I DIDN'T TAKE MORE SCREENSHOTS (ESPECIALLY DURING THE MAVUIKA VS CAPITANO FIGHT) BUT I WAS TOO DAMN MESMERIZED SEEING THE GIRLS FIGHTING. And I loveee me some chivalry.

I have no guaranteed but since Natlan is SPOLING US so much I already have 48 pulls for this man.

[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

🫳🎤🚶‍♀️‍➡️