#then unless you specify theres a high chance i might ramble about a completely different category of thoughts

[probably-haven]

Since someone asked about Guizhong now I must ask... Thoughts on the Tsaritsa?

So there's a few things about the Tsaritsa to get out of the way first. there is.... a lot of different possibilities for what is going on with her, whether that be in her past, her goals, her methods, and her character overall. We just know so little about her and theres so few guidelines to direct any character analysis so it really branches out into a bunch of different independent theories.

that said, lets see what i can put together into coherent sentences!

To start, a lot of the information that we have on the Tsaritsa seems to come from or center around the events of 500 years ago so lets kick this off with an unformatted list of random things im pulling from canon that seem significant to me!

A: About the Tsaritsa:

“Too gentle, in fact, and that's why she had to harden herself. Likewise, she declared war against the whole world only because she dreams of peace” - Childe about the Tsaritsa

She’s collecting gnosises (info from traveler’s own experience)

“Sorry... to also have you shoulder the grievances of the world. Since you could endure my bitter cold, you must have the desire to burn? Then, burn away the old world for me." - the Tsaritsa (Shivada Jade Gemstone)

She became Cryo Archon between the archon war and the fall of Khaenri’ah(unless they pull another Ei on us) (info from Venti after the Mondstadt archon quests)

“She is a god with no love left for her people, nor do they have any left for her. Her followers only hope to be on her side when the day of her rebellion against the divine comes at last” - Dainsleif about the Tsaritsa

“Five hundred years ago, I knew her well. But I can't say the same is true now. You see, a certain catastrophe happened five hundred years ago, and after that, she cut off all ties with me” - Venti about the Tsaritsa

Negotiated a contract with Zhongli for his gnosis. (info from Zhongli and- that scene) (might have been done via harbingers, not Tsaritsa herself)

Tsaritsa once was the god of love (info from Dainsleif)(heavily implied)

Now before i get into analyzing what these might mean, because of the morally grey nature of a lot of the Archons’ actions, I’m going to go over the sources. 

A1) Childe despite his Fatui alignment is a straightforward person. While his perception itself is likely biased, this still stands as either the truth or at the least, the impression of herself she has chosen to give the harbingers/Snezhnaya as a whole. A2) Our own eyes is a valid source A3) Direct quote from person = valid A4) As an archon with unspoken connection to Celestia among a number of other things, Venti is not a valid source. This and connected analysis should be viewed with skepticism.  A5) Dainsleif’s connection to Khaenri’ah gives him a bias, but outside the abyss order he seems to have a duty towards truthfulness and neutrality. Still too many unknowns to be a valid source tho, view connected analysis with skepticism. A6) Venti is not a valid source. View with skepticism.  A7) Zhongli is not a valid source either, but the rest of the actions in the scene support this enough to give it weight.  A8) Implied by enough varied sources to be valid. 

ANYWHO NOW THAT THATS DONE!!! lets get to the analysis, starting with... aimless rambling until I find a direction- nifty!

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So I do believe that the Tsaritsa does ultimately have good intentions, and its pretty clearly implied that her end goal is to essentially rebel against Celestia, or perhaps the heavenly principles themselves (to the extent of completely destroying it based on A3). Now as for why, lets take a little look at when everything changed: 500 years ago Now I have to be careful not to turn this into a ramble about Khaenri’ah, so instead of analyzing what exactly might have possibly happened back then, I’m going to stick to looking at it’s possible effects... if that makes sense.

Before the events of the cataclysm 500 years ago she was described as “too gentle” and implied to possess the ideal of “love” in a general sense of the word. Now if all the above evidence is assumed to be true, this is what we already know about the impact it had on her: She abandoned love as her ideal, lost all love for her people, cut ties with Venti(though seemingly not Zhongli), deemed Celestia’s punishment towards Khaenri’ah as unjust, and gained a vendetta against either Celestia, the heavenly principles, or divinity as a whole... among other things

The Tsaritsa was not the only one who seemed to respond like this however, as many aspects of this actually mirror Ei’s own response to the cataclysm, with the abandonment of an old ideal, cutting ties, lost faith in the heavenly principles, and yada yada all that- However, in Ei’s case there were a lot of characters involved that hadn’t previously been mentioned, so it stands to reason that it would be near impossible to correctly form any theory about what exactly it was that impacted the Tsaritsa so greatly until we get more information, but what we can say is this.

The Tsaritsa, like a vast quantity of the others in genshin impact, is an immensely traumatized individual, and a lot of the actions she takes and the ambitions she holds are influenced heavily by the emotions remaining from the events of her past. In her case, the most potent of these is her wrath towards Celestia, a new priority that has drowned out whatever ideal she may have had in the past. 

It is of note however, that the Tsaritsa and the Fatui by extent seem to be uncannily linked to that which has to do with Khaenri’ah and the cataclysm, and i dont just mean as an origin. Let’s take a look at the harbingers we know anything substantial on so far:

1. Pierro: implied to be a sage from Khaenri’ah by the Pale Flame set, which mentions him as an inferior sage, unable to stop the ruler of an unknown country from tearing away the “veil of sin” that brought on the country’s destruction, giving him his own Vendetta against the “divine” 2. Scaramouche: a puppet created as a result of Ei’s own response to the cataclysm, an early attempt at pursuing her own newly acquired ideal. 3. Signora: quite literally the crimson witch of flame, who became so in order to avenge her fiance(husband? one of those), Rostam, who died in the cataclysm 4. Tartaglia: gets his power from the Abyss(khaenri’ah’s curse) and his foul legacy is just- coated with abyss/khaenri’ah iconography/  5. Dottore: I mean come on- he’s like basically known for his ruin guard experimentation- that and..... y’know... Collei

the others have only been mentioned without really any context or info

Now this is most likely coincidence, but i just think its really interesting to think that, as a sort of tribute, or more reasonably, as a mere set of guidelines, the Tsaritsa actually seems to be taking large amounts of inspiration from and using a considerable number of techniques similar to those that were used by Khaenri’ah in the past. I just can’t help but feel that the mirroring is kinda worth mentioning because it is something of note that these methods and techniques didnt exactly work well for Khaenri’ah in the past and all. It probably doesn’t mean anything, but i just think it interesting. 

Anyway moving on from that meaningless tangent! Let’s talk a bit about end game

to requote the description for the Shivada Jade Gemstone:

“Sorry... to also have you shoulder the grievances of the world. Since you could endure my bitter cold, you must have the desire to burn? Then, burn away the old world for me.” 

Now... excuse me while i tear this quote apart piece by piece because its the only thing we have from her and there’s just- a considerable amount. (also cuz in general i think the gemstone descriptions say a lot about both the Archon that narrates them, and those who receive a vision of the corresponding element)

“you could endure my bitter cold” implies that the Tsaritsa is actually likely pretty darn self aware, which i just find really interesting. She’s viewed as cold by her harbingers and her people alike, and she herself doesn’t seem to view her own element in a very positive light either. Whether the visions are given by the Archons or by Celestia, she seems to view them as more of a burden than as a gift, something difficult to endure. This could mean the vision itself, the process of getting it(not fun for most), or perhaps what must come after. 

“Sorry... to also have you shoulder the grievances of the world” shows that she is still capable of feeling remorse for things, not completely heartless. Now the word grievance is basically an unfair treatment worthy of protest or complaint, or just a feeling of resentment over something unfair. This models not only her resentment towards Celestia for the punishment of Khaenri’ah but also the stories of a number of the cryo characters. 

“Burn away the old world for me”

NOW THIS!!!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS LINE

The Tsaritsa is a being of ice and frost. Whether her abilities were granted to her by Celestia or some other being or if they have always been hers to wield is unimportant. Fire is the complete opposite of ice, something that shouldn’t be within her ability. Reasonably, if she desired to destroy the old world above all else, wanting to do so with the most efficiency and highest chance of success, she would do this through her naturally present cryo abilities. And yet she doesn’t. She doesn’t just pick some alternative method though, she picks the polar opposite of cryo. By expressing her “desire to burn” she is outright rejecting her own element and in doing so, might as well be issuing a direct challenge of defiance against the “natural order” of things that Celestia is so adamant about maintaining. 

Not only is this a huge power move, but it also shows that she retains a sense of sentimentality, of emotion that can cloud her path to success. She not only wants to destroy the divine, she wishes to do so in a way that rejects them entirely, goes against all they stand for, even if it means this will be more difficult to do. This truly serves no purpose except for the poetic symbolism that few but herself will ever take note of, but such is the way of vengeance to cloud judgement with spite. 

and yet- fire is known to symbolize purification, a return to nature- something modelled perfectly in Childe’s quote: “she declared war against the whole world only because she dreams of peace” And in a world where corrupted divine influence is woven into every rock and leaf and breeze on the wind, then how can one ever hope to achieve peace without being willing to tear it apart. 

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anyway i kinda mainly focused on her character itself in this since ive seen a lot of theories out there about what she might be doing or specific parts of her plan, but i truly dont believe theres any way we can predict those at this point, so I figured this might be a bit funner! I’d be more than happy to expand on any part of this though or any other thing about the Tsaritsa(or anything really) just let me know, the Tsaritsa is a really interesting character to me in nearly all aspects, so- yeah

also lol, a lot of this is probably far af from canon but youll never get anywhere if you’re not at least a little “out there” about things so- hopefully it didnt end up sounding too far fetched lol. that tends to happen with rambling so- just hoping it still somehow managed to fit the request at least somewhat decently XD. Anywho thank you so much for the ask bestie, sincerely!!