#zhongli theory

[kingskyless]

the grandpas!

art for my video talking about natlan and samsaras

[ghostiebooo]

why morax is totally the shade of life a google doc by yours truly

after all these years........ i finished my doc....... i believe with like 99% certainty that morax aka rex lapis aka zhongli is the SHADE OF LIFE and ive made a google doc about it !!! i put a lot of heart and soul into this so i hope it reaches people and they like it because genshin lore is something that i really enjoy so :3 have fun reading please at first i posted this to reddit because i thought people there would like it but they were mean to me about things i quite literally go over in the doc so i think that was my mistake for thinking they had media literacy i mean whaaat there are a few leaks if youre worried but not a lot, only what i thought was relevant. :3 message me if you have anything you think i should add to the doc!!!!

(in the tone of find my pages) read my magnum opus

[tinirainboom]

What if that whole scene was a complete lie? GENSHIN IMPACT THEORY by Tinirainboom

Since the truth is that the player's choice does not matter and it does not change the story of the game, then... What if we never had a real sister? since in reality the canon is Aether and Lumine is the one with the abyss…

(it is shown by the plot cinematics that genshin shows of trama like "We will meet again", "Footprints", “Dim Luminar”, "The road not taken" and “Passing Memories”)

and it is a whole lie created by the Teyvat matrix itself to deceive the MC or us like players?

We do not have "real" evidence about the story of the "twin brothers" since it cannot be possible that one is descended and the other is not, that is where something does not add up. That also happens to Aether when Nahida tells him this. So... "Lumine" means light and "Aether":

According to Greek and medieval science, ether (ancient Greek: αἰθήρ, aither), also called quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the sphere land. The concept of ether was used in several theories to explain various natural phenomena, such as the movement of light and gravity. In the late 19th century, physicists postulated that the ether permeated all space, providing a medium through which light could travel in a vacuum, but evidence for the presence of such a medium was not found in Michelson's experiment. Morley, and this result has been interpreted in the sense that there is no luminiferous ether. The word αἰθήρ (aithēr) in Homeric Greek means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky"(Aether's Japanese name is Sora= Sky). In Greek mythology, it was believed to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air mortals breathed. Even Aether is also personified as a deity, Ether, the son of Erebus and Nyx in traditional Greek mythology.

Do you see that it is no coincidence that just "Aether" the canon MC is a descendant? Hoyoverse is not silly and does not do things at random.

And many times we are the only ones who can do things that others cannot and "coincidentally" there are no other people who interact with "Dainsleif", only Khaenri'ah characters interact with him such as Kaeya in the Sumeru mission, or the mention of Capitano in the Natlan mission, even our supposed "twin brother" and then us (we don't count Paimon since it is clear that she is not a being from that world, Teyvat). The same data from the game says that there can be no living beings in the Abyss (we already witnessed that from the victims of Natlan, Sumeru, Liyue/The Chasm...) and just "Lumine" is there, like the "princess of the abyss" she is DEAD, the same thing happens with the people of Khaenri'ah, they are DEAD IN LIVING/SOULS IN BARRAIN due to Celestia's punishment, that is why they are still in the world of Teyvat. That means that the twin brother that is with the Abyss is our counterpart, since as I explained before the "Aether" is EVERYTHING, and the light "LUMINE" is a part of that, just a fragment. For some reason she tells us, "We will meet again", "You will understand everything at the end of the journey", she speaks in a context future in the past tense (avoiding giving the answer so that you understand for yourself by taking the journey to reveal the truth) and as if we need to remember WHAT REALLY HAPPENED and Dainsleif's character is the part of that key.

Since he (Dainsleif) himself also has the attitudes of someone who IS DEAD, like on those occasions when he always lets us (MC) do the work, not HIM, for example: "I can't now, I have to go", "I'm just passing through" or he leaves without say anything, this type of actions are of a soul in pain and just his peers or someone related to the abyss, like "Lumine" can communicate with him, even Zhongli said that he cannot speak about him or the TRUTH because of a "contract". Even Venti in one of the voice lines tells us that "he's seen us before" and coincidentally "we" don't remember it. That further supports that Lumine is simply a fragment of the MC and that is why we are incomplete. Even Lumine has these "living dead"/lost soul attitudes when she appears. Lumine evades the important questions we ask her in the Archon Quest Chapter IV: Act VI - Bedtime Story, answering in a vague, generic way about something we really know called "the Loom of Fate" and only naming "her plans", enigmatic way to avoid specifically answering "TO HER OWN BROTHER" on purpose. She even wants to prevent us from teaming up with Dain and said it to our faces in Archon Quest Chapter I: Act IV - We Will Be Reunited: "why are you with Dain?", "You shouldn't team up with this man. He is my enemy”.

⭐︎Fun fact 1: Did you know that Aether's earring starts in black on its journey through Teyvat and over time it changes to the color spectrum of the elements of each nation while Lumine's light was always white and never changed? Aether = everything, Lumine = light. Even Lumine's clothes are white, and what's the light like? WHITE, however in Aether it is more varied, he has balance, with dark colors and a white scarf and cape with a drawing of a golden shooting star on it. Coincidence? I don't believe it. "Twins" always represent a duality. ⭐︎Fun fact 2: Did you know that the name Lumine in Japanese, Hotaru, means Firefly? In Japanese mythology, fireflies are associated with the spirits of the dead, referencing Hotaru's status as a warrior of death and rebirth. And "coincidentally" Lumine fights for the Abyss, which is death itself (we saw it in Natlan at its best pov) and wants to be "reborn", that is, reform the rules of Teyvat and govern it at his will. Here I give you an image of Fun fact 1:

Doesn't this remind you of something? he he

Surely we do fight against the "sustainer of heavenly principles" but not as really shown in the scene here in the beginning, which affects both counterparts about what they consider real and what not, because… if even the Irminsul himself can overwrite real information with false information like Scaramouche did. So, why shouldn't we doubt that just that "unknown Deity" has done something to us? Since Aether thinks she just sealed his powers, but like I said THAT'S WHAT HE BELIEVES. As she is an entity with great power and was not even seen sweating or struggling to catch the twins, even indirectly the same game confirms to us that the false sky is real thanks to the power borrowed from Ronova the shadow of death of Phanes that she gave to Mavuika to defeat the abyss and unintentionally breaking the sky of Teyvat... It shows that this "deity", the "sustainer of heavenly principles" is capable of altering reality and space, and is surely capable of confronting others entities/descendants (like us) then... Why should we trust what we saw at the beginning of the game? since it may be an altered memory. Even with us, in real life, it happens that the brain fills in compiled information when it does not remember and you create a false memory.

The world of Teyvat is a matrix, a false reality. Even players with the pause menu can control "time", Mavuika also told us that time itself is an illusion since the past, present and future are the same line, they pass simultaneously. This can be confirmed with Aether since what he "supposedly" experienced with the "twin sister" and the incident of the "unknown Goddess" were as if it had happened to him yesterday and not 500 years ago. Time itself is relative. A classic reference to this is the movie Matrix Reloaded, in the scene of Neo talking to the Architect. And why am I referring to that scene? Because Neo being the "chosen one" is a failure of the Matrix system and the architect tells him this. In our case, Aether/MC is a flaw in the Teyvat system since he is a descendant, in short an outside entity/alien. Did you even realize that the decisions we make in Genshin Impact as players do not affect anything, that they are completely USELESS? Since a clear example is the Natlan war or the Sumeru's Samsara, it does not matter which direction you take, those people are going to die and you will not see them again, the same choice is a LIE, an ILLUSION. Unlike Honkai Star Rail, our decisions do change the story of the destination of MC's journey and this is demonstrated with the alternative endings with a black screen and it tells you what happens, but in Genshin this does not happen for a very simple reason. Teyvat is a world of lies, and within the matrix you cannot change things, something that Neo was not able to do at the beginning because he did not realize that he was the chosen one and could break the rules, something that MC still cannot do.

Ultimately, the problem is the choice, just like The Matrix Reloaded. Neo realized that the choice itself did not change things in his favor and the only thing it did was favor the vicious cycle of the Matrix, so he decided NOT TO CHOOSE and CREATE A SOLUTION. In the case of Neo there were 5 chosen ones before him and they fell into the trap, the same thing will have happened with the other three descendants of Genshin and now it is up to us, who we are the fourth to change the rules and not continue with the cycle. There is evidence that comes from the game itself that Teyvat is a lie and that is demonstrated in Wings of Feasting with its inscription, but the most important is what it says at the end: "Teyvat's borders have grown fragile these past two years — looks like Mommy's going to have to get busy." These are Alice's words towards Klee and the reason for his absence. It has already been shown that witches are entities that can create life and underworlds with their own rules within Teyvat (events of the Golden Apple Archipelago, the island of Sri Lanka, even the fantasy theater, etc). 

And now coincidentally all the archons are rebelling in their own way against Celestia giving the Gnosis that have divine knowledge and as Skrik said are part of the corpse of the third descended (Venti created a false Gnosis since if you pay attention when Zhongli or Nahida deliver the Gnosis They don't shine and the one that Signora grabs in Mondstadt does, like the lyre that "he repaired with his power") but with his attitude he shows that he knows more than necessary. And the Fatuis are putting everything together to carry out the Tsaritsa's plan against Celestia.

⭐︎Fun fact 3: When we have to choose the twin and we give him a name, will the rest of the people never say it? They are going to call us "Traveler", except for our supposed twin. The same thing happens in the Undertale game, that at the beginning of the game we choose MC's name but they call us "human" and at the end MC reveals his name and it is Frisk. The election is a lie. Also in Archon Quest Chapter III: Act VI - Caribert, the broken mirror scene is almost the same as the one in the movie Avengers Endgame when the Nebula of the past accidentally connected with the memories of the Nebula of the future? She was able to pass that connection since she was "relatively close" to the Nebula of the future and could not understand what was happening, the same thing happened to MC seeing his twin in his reflection, and that he was seeing through the memories of the counterpart of themselves and just right in the place of the events of the past but in another time. Which makes my theory stronger.   ⭐︎Fun fact 4: It should be noted that the Pari, creations made by the Goddess of Flowers (now completely proven that the Seeles were angels in the past, by Natlan's last mission in 3.1) were the ones who indirectly mentioned to us about Lumine and Dain's journey in Teyvat. Besides, it is no coincidence that they have the power to stop the abyss because they are the creation of an angel in itself. ⭐︎Fun fact 5: The story of the battle pass that Venti tells is an allegory of what is currently happening to these "supposed twins" and the snake acting as a temptation to the strange entity of the "Sinner" who himself says that: "O dear creature, why do you bow down? For fear of the unknown? Or for a power that you covet?, "O dear creature, why do you bow down? For I am no god... I am but a Sinner", "You are like a flower born in sin yet pure, spotless... I know your fate well", "You need no longer hold back your resentment, nor accept the countless lies", "Go forth, become a transcendent one, rise beyond the fate bestowed upon you...", "And I shall shed a tear at the end of time... as I look back upon your life". Words that served Lumine, who is the light, being a pure flower but who can sin, go to the darkness of the abyss. ⭐︎Final fact: If you paid attention to the "Footprints" video, at the beginning of the video "the so-called  twins" appear together in the field of happy flowers and then at the end of the journey of everything, Aether appears alone in that field looking at his hand with a face melancholic, serious and reflective, as if he had discovered a hard and cruel truth at the same time. As the saying goes: "The truth is a very difficult dish to swallow." And there is even another Genshin video that is "Genshin Impact Commemorative Preview «Dim Luminar»" that just "Lumine" tells the entire story that had happened until now (to Sumeru) as if it had been a "witness" of everything, just like a spirit that sees everything that happens to the rest because they became an entity of the fourth dimension. At the end of the video, our “supposed sister” says: "Let's continue another time. Sooner or later, he will leave his mark on the desert. I wonder what choices you will make, Aether?" At the end of the day, did you realize that the scenes between the two of them are like seeing a reflection of themselves? There are no differences and no changes in the history, but it is like seeing a mirror. Lumine at the end of saying that is like looking at yourself in a showcase and saying "what are you going to do this time, me from the past?"

Ready! end of all the argument and theory of Genshin. If you've made it this far, thank you very much for reading. Reblogs would serve a lot to spread this theory throughout the Genshin community.The images are not mine, they are from their respective gif creators. This theory is made by me and my father who we're players. If you're going to use it, give credits to this blog! Now, have a good day, afternoon or night.

~Reiko Yukimura~

[blood-orange-juice]

Meanwhile @letpaimonbitepeople found this:

A currency created by an Extremely Sus god that is used as a catalyst in alchemy and is named after a linguistic time unit? In a world that is shaped by stories and where it's forbidden to investigate the origin of words?

Mr. Zhongli. I have questions.

I was wondering where Chronos was in that game, since the goddess of time is Kairos. Narrative time, not metrical time.

I guess I know now.

[mielwriting]

The Collected Miscellany videos are solid evidence to the idea that Dainsleif, when he's not hunting down Abyss Heralds or talking to the Traveler, spends a signifcant amount of time spying on all the elemental wielders of Teyvat.

Which is hilarious to imagine as his hobby.

Doubly so when you remember a lot of people probably realized he was watching them. Venti, Zhongli, Shenhe, Yelan, Cloud Retainer, Nahida, Neuvillette.

[where-is-my-sonic-screwdriver]

With all the story and shit what's the possibility that Paimon is the third descender?? Mona can't read her, some guy in the prologue of Inazuma said Paimon smells like the stars, and the book of esoteric revelations quest reveals that Paimon has a string that extends somewhere above the sky. She implies she's "Atleast 400 years old" and is kinda small, there's only one like her, Abyss doesn't affect her (or the traveler), her entire design screams "CELESTIA". The heavenly principles (dude/dudette is definitely a D word) made the gnoses with the third descender's remains (While this implies the third passed away, I am not trusting anything that comes from the heavenly principles or their associates.) Paimon is a character from Ars Goetia, specifically one of the nine kings of hell. it's either this or I've had too much chocolate ice-cream while being sleep deprived

[mondglocke]

I just finished the 4.2 Archon Quest and i can't help but continue to be suspicious of Zhongli for being the only version of him to ever exists in Teyvat.

There are the nameless Bard and Venti.

There are Makoto and Ei.

There are Rukkhadevata and Nahida.

and now Focalors and Furina.

Every Archon has some kind of Double or Doppelganger, or simply a Mirrorself - someone who LOOKS and acts like the first or tries to live the former dreams, goals and ideals. They aren't the only one with their face, there were at some point two of them in Teyvat (As if they were twins, but only one remained...well, in case of makoto and ei that's literally what happend but you get it) There already once was someobody conscious with the Face the current Archon wears.

Except for Zhongli. He is the only one with a face that belongs just to him. There is no counterpart or mirror, no friend or sibling, he didnt split himself into two, his face is unique and yet he is also the only one who keeps it hidden in every cutscene...

[child--ish]

I noticed that I have a very big inclination to see stuff as family, like I see Kazu and Beidou as son and mother (Ning being the other mother) and Lisa and Razor also as mother and son, I also strongly believe that Cyno and Razor 𝗮𝗿𝗲 related in some way, & if that's true, she also can potentially be to Cyno, too! And I see Collei, Nari, and Cyno as like they're her parents and it's cute and stuff! I also hope with all my heart that Ei and Scara will be happy some day. Oh, and ALSO, I see Xiao, Hu Tao, Zhongli (Ganyu is also thrown in the mix) as a happy family. And Diluc and Kaeya as adopted bros. oh, oh! and Furina and Neuvi as father and daughter.

So, yeahhh, a BIG tendency to see stuff as family–

Also! for those who like Zhongli fam here

It's a fic about them with a little bit of chili sprinkled in =)

[mojomcm-fandom]

Edit: Now that it's not late at night and I have my laptop out, I'm editing this so it sounds less like the ramblings of a madwoman (tho there's a limited amount I can do seeing as it is, in fact, the ramblings of a madwoman lol). Also formatting and clarity and any additional theories/headcanons/whatever I think of while editing this.

Partly crack, partly copium, but I've got some theories/crossover/au thing going on that I wanted to write down so here goes:

Crack/Copium/Theories:

All 3 of the trailblazer kids are actually "dead" aeons.

Stelle/Caelus: Akivili (Herta makes us LARP as Akivili in Hertian Realm and we're known as the Trailblazer while Akivili is known as the Trailblaze so idk I know the player character looks like Nanook but they ain't dead soooo...)

Dan Heng: Long (maybe the High Elder Vidyadhara is actually Long's own reincarnation but they have no idea bc memory wipe. TBH makes no sense for the Permanence to be dead)

March 7th: Idrila (this one's a bit of a stretch so bear with me. The Aeon of Beauty could be HoHe Elysia expy and March is also kinda Elysia expy so ??? And March was froze in ice without memory so it's totally possible that's Idrila's mysterious disappearance)

Also:

Sampo is Aha. He gives strong vibes of being a Masked Fool in canon, but I think it'd be funny if he's actually the Elation.

Pom-pom was created by Akivili to protect the Express after Aha blew it up. Pom-pom is also a proficient marksman. This is bc of some canon evidence alluding to Pom-pom actually being really powerful (Yanqing and Welt both make mention of it iirc) and the engine of the train looking like a revolver. (Also headcanon that the Astral Express itself was made from one of Akivili's twin revolver pistols. Perhaps the other has the ability to summon the train?)

Lan has not and will not kill Yaoshi bc yin-yang/life and death balance and also bc what is a hunter without prey. The Hunt had no issue killing the Propagation, so this seems like the most reasonable reason why the Hunt has been after the Abundance so long without killing them.

On aeons and the relations between paths (I might end up making a relationship chart?):

Death Aeons: Nanook is unnatural death (think murder, natural disaster, etc.), while IX is natural entropic death (like degradation from aging), Lan is controlled, balanced death (think like hunters/predators keeping ecosystem in balance), and Oroboros is the death caused by one's own greed (think pollution, overconsumption). Terminus is the end of time and final death of the universe.

Life Aeons: Tayzzyronth is overabundant life (think how invasive species population boom bc outcompeting native species for resources), Yaoshi is overabundant continuation of life (think unnaturally prolonged life), and Long is eternity (without change or growth, entropy comes for all).

Mythus and Nous are polar opposites in path direction. Akivili is midway between the two (to trailblaze is to turn the unknown into the known).

Some paths are directly at odds with each other (opposite directions), some paths have overlap (too much overlap leads to one path consuming the other like with Ena and Xipe), and some paths are neutral (running perpendicular to the others). Mostly this matters in relation to pathstriders who walk multiple paths, as it is extremely unlikely to find, for example, someone simultaneously walking both the path of the Hunt and the Abundance.

Hooh's is the ultimate neutral path. Akivili's is also a fairly neutral path, though slight odds with Mythus's (to seek to make the unknown known doesn't really work with the idea nothing can be known) and maybe Aha (just bc Aha is a jerk and like Herta said, surely Akivili would've taken offense to Aha blowing up the Express). Idrila, Xipe, Fuli, Aha, and Qlipoth also have relatively neutral paths, though Qlipoth and Fuli are at odds with Nanook and Mythus. Xipe sometimes does not get along with Aha, if Aha is being particularly antagonistic.

Crossover/AU (Genshin):

Traveler and twin are Akivili (one soul two bodies, don't think too hard about it). Akivili is presumed dead by HSR universe bc Sustainer of Heavenly Principles imprisoned Akivili on Teyvat (a world at the fringes of the known universe/Yggdrasil/Irmunsul/Imaginary Tree). Claiming that they are siblings is far easier to explain than that they are two halves of the same god.

Zhongli/Morax is a high elder (do non-high elders have the ability to turn fully into dragons? are there any high elders who are not Dan Heng? idk) vidyadhara who arrived on Teyvat shortly before rebirth. Idk weird Teyvat magic or something made his rebirth cycle this time 10x longer than normal (should only be 600-700 years between rebirth and he's canonically 6000 years old). He is unaware of anything HSR related bc memory wipe from rebirth and nobody around to explain things.

The Imaginary Tree in HI3 and HSR and Irminsul in Genshin are the same tree (Yggdrasil), but some may only be branches of the other

So yeah, stay tuned to see HoYo prove my theories and headcanons wrong in the upcoming years.

[spunkykirby]

Oh wait.

Based on Neuvillette's line about Ei, he'd be primarily judging the Archons' actions that took place after they've accepted the Authorities, not before, because before taking the Authorities, they wouldn't be classified as Usurpers he needed to judge.

"As a survivor of the dragon race who has regained my full dragonhood, I must fulfill my oaths and obligations even if it means returning all the water in the oceans back to the heavens. In taking the Authority of Electro, the Narukami placed herself on the list of the usurpers, she will..."

"But wouldn't this mean he's incapable of judging the Heavenly Principles' actions before they stole the Authorities too??!?!??"

No.

He knows by now the current Archons had nothing to do with directly stealing the Authorities from the Sovereigns, therefore they can't be charged with that crime. The direct stealing and m-rdering of the Sovereigns and their Authorities was committed by PO and his Shades alone. Therefore, only they can be charged with crimes/actions committed before they got their Authorities (because during their time usurping they didn't have the authorities, they were unrightfully battling for it).

"Wwell they STILL accepted the Authorities, therefore that makes them guilty by association!"

Then they'd all be automatically declared guilty without need for trial. That'd not only make no sense but there'd be no use for a trial.

In regards to their potential crimes, he'd more than likely (at most) be able to charge them with the charge he gave to Childe: Tangential Liability. This basically means an individual is held responsible for the actions or consequences indirectly related to their own actions or omissions.

In other words, it involves liability that arises from a secondary or collateral involvement in a situation, rather than direct participation or causation. The secondary and collateral involvement is (should be) in reference to the actions they've committed only after becoming Official Usurpers (like HP) re:accepting the Authority.

After all, the judgement of Childe did not refer to the actions he partook in before waking the whale, but after. Same applies to the archons and when they took the authorities.

Now idk if they knew the basis of the thrones before accepting them (unlikely, because before they did, their knowledge of the thrones was more than likely the same as Orobashi's: none. Orobashi was only sentenced to death after learning of the true history without having the "right" to know that info i.e. not having the Authority. The Archons likely would've been given the same sentence should they have learned before gaining the right to the knowledge as well...unless they're exceptions who had other ways of guaranteeing their silence).

[ceruleanvermillion]

Circumstances of Guizhong's Death

90% sure something's up with Guizhong's death because weapon lore is basically from the devs and is therefore reliable and yet it contradicts Cloud Retainer's account and cutscene and why in the world would Cloud Retainer of all people lie??? But her retelling doesn't really line up and Zhongli WON'T SAY ANYTHING. Mihoyo is definitely doing this with intention, because they have an eye for details. Also the yakshas appearing in the cutscene makes the timeline... Super weird???

anyway here's a list

Cloud Retainer said this: "Guizhong was overpowered by the enemy, and fell in battle. When Streetward Rambler and I arrived at the scene at long last, all that remained among the ruins... was her lifeless body."

This has several implications: CR and Ping found her when she was already dead. Her body was what was left. There were surrounded by ruins. She also fell in battle. (we don't actually who found her *first*, since the cutscene depicted everyone being there. However the phrase used was "all that remained...lifeless body" implying CR and Ping found her like that.)

SPEAKING OF THE CUTSCENE. We see her being basically petrified/turned into a statue. Again, everyone was there, even the Yakshas, and Zhongli. There was this magic shape thing above her in the cutscene, we dont know what it is. But when it played, there was this glitch effect and we see this:

again, we don't know what it is or why the devs chose to add that funky glitch effect.

WHY THIS IS WEIRD AND IMPORTANT? This is a quote from what Memory of Dust weapon lore says: "He also remembers those words she spoke at the end — again, amid the Glaze Lilies."

This alone partly contradicts CR. Glaze Lilies. Not ruins. Okay, but there could've been some ruins from battle. So this is not complete evidence. However, something else caught my eye.

this being: Zhongli was with Guizhong in her final moments.

Another very important quote: "Her final smile was a lonely one, even as her form dissolved into the finest dust. "It seems that our journey together has come to an end. As for that stone dumbbell, forget about it, would you?""

And also this: ""If you can unlock it—" Many years passed, and he was never able to unlock that dumbbell, nor would he ever learn what might have followed that sentence."

Again, according to this, Zhongli was with Guizhong in her final moments. He heard her last words. He was there/already there before she died, she was not dead yet when he was with her.

(what might've implied in this description: That Zhongli and Guizhong were alone and no one else was there, because no other persons were mentioned. Again, this is while likely is also tentative, because there was no explicit mention. This way Zhongli might've found her first.)

What matters was that there was no way they found her at the state of *already dead*. Because according to MoD, "Her Form Dissolved into the finest dust." She's turning to dust even before dying. There shouldn't have been a body to find if she literally dissolved into dust. This is Direct Contradiction from CR's account and the cutscene, which depicted her body as stone/petrified. In Memory of Dust weapon lore, Guizhong's last words were cut-off, meaning even Zhongli didn't hear everything she was going to say. This was the moment of her death- the moment she likely had completely dissolved into dust was when she was still talking to Zhongli.

Let's review

According to CR: She fell in battle, they found her body, already dead, among the ruins.

According to MoD: When she died, Zhongli was with her. He heard her last words. She dissolved into dust.

Contradictions:

In MoD lore, her form dissolved into dust but cutscene + CR said they found her body and that she was turned to stone.

They found her body among ruins/scene of battle according to CR but in MoD she died among the Glaze Lilies.

Yaksha timeline weird

Arguable/tentative/still really vague stuff: According to CR she fell in battle because she was "overpowered by the enemy"- how did that happen if Zhongli was there according to MoD? He's still alive, after all. Also ngl they had a moment™️when she died because he had heard her last words- shouldn't he be fighting lmao??? Also shouldn't the glaze lilies be destroyed by battle?

TLDR There was no way CR and Ping would've found her body if we're going purely by what was explicitly mentioned in MoD. Vice Versa, there was no way MoD scenario would have worked out the way it allegedly did if we're going by CR's account.

also what in the world was that thing that was supposedly contained in the cutscene? The one in the third picture above.

Theories.

Obviously, this means that we should not take these accounts at face value. Either *something else happened that we still don't know* OR *Only one of these accounts was right*. So there's like a bunch of theories abt this. Anyway these are just some of them.

Maybe one could argue that Zhongli petrified her body after she died and dissolved, and that both accounts are technically right. But again, such a thing was *never* mentioned by either sources. is it even possible to do such a thing? Also why in the world would he feel the need to construct a whole fake scenario instead of just telling CR and Ping? Did something happen that made him think he has to?

Irminsul mind-wipe. This one is vague but Sumeru made it a possible option. However, why? why should they erase her? What did she do, what happened? They did put a glitch effect- so was that a creative choice or where they alluding to it? Also, again, what was that thing they were containing in the cutscene? also what's inside memory of dust and why did she ask zhongli to forget it?

In MoD we see Guizhong say two contradicting things. She told Zhongli to forget about MoD. but later it seemed like she was about to tell him the opposite. We don't know what she said because she unfortunately was dead.

Some people theorized that Zhongli might've killed Guizhong himself, because of the lines in Jade cutter weapon lore. Again, why? they were close up to her death, as mentioned by MoD. If that happened, why?

So, thoughts?

[burningparadiseduck]

There’s a misconception that Venti and Zhongli are the only original archons and that is technically untrue.

Ei ruled jointly with her twin sister so she was the archon from the beginning. Only the public didn’t know about both of them existing.

Rukkhadevata created Nahida but the timeline was completely changed by the Irminsul so now she never existed so that makes Nahida the original ruler of sumeru.

That rule only applies to Fontaine since Egeria, being the original hydro archon, is actually dead.

[zashaownsaholylyre]

“Zhonglis Appointment?”

In this very specific scene in the Liyue archon quest, Zhongli asked us to come to the restaurant in the evening for an "appointment".

More surprising to me is that Zhongli actually paid for everything?!?!

Honestly, I'm in deep shock. Considering Zhongli never paid a dime when we were gathering things for the Liyue Archon Quest.

But you know what? The more I think of it, maybe Zhongli is just trying to make up for the inconveniences he has brought upon us. Maybe he asked us out on this so-called "appointment" just to apologize to us.

Besides all that, I think it's kind of nice of Zhongli to pay for all the meals we have consumed at our so-called "appointment".

Well if it is an apology, I think it's such an acceptable apology.

»Video creds: @childeswaistband on TikTok«

Screenshot by: me :>

[stainedglassthreads]

Theory About Who Has the Gnosis

My theory about who presently has the Hydro Gnosis, and who the true Hydro Archon is, is that it's...still Furina, actually. Just not the Furina we've been interacting with so far.

"Okay what the hell are you on about now, Glass--" So glad you asked, dearest darling readers!

So one thing I've been utterly obsessed with in Genshin is how every Archon(except Zhongli) has a dead doppelganger that makes them depressed. Venti has the Nameless Bard(modeled his form based off them), Ei has Makoto(identical twins), Nahida has Rukkhadevata(used the same model when they finally got to speak with each other, adult Rukkhadevata looked like an older Nahida)

So this sets up for Furina, Murata, and the Tsaritsa possibly having their own doppelgangers. As such my theory is that Furina's doppelganger is actually currently still alive, and is the holder of the Gnosis. Furthermore, it is actually Furina's memories of the Gnosis and certain knowledge required for being and acting like an Archon 'given consciousness'. This other-Furina (we'll just call THIS one Focalors to prevent confusion) is probably also the one who's been gathering Indemnitum and figuring out plans to deal with the Prophecy while our Furina keeps the populace calm and entertained, hence why Furina is so confident that she can deal with the prophecy, to the point the Traveler doesn't think she's putting on an act anymore, but can't actually answer any of Arlecchino's questions during the Archon Quest. That was her 'original, complete self' briefly shining through.

As for how such a thing is possible...Furina actually strikes me as pretty competent, if anxious and insecure, when she sets her mind to something, and seems to have some sort of specialty in information gathering. She's good enough at it that she's the first Archon to figure out where the Traveler is going, and set agents to inform her of our arrival so she can make a grand entrance literally minutes after we entered her nation--without Archon powers. It's also very interesting how, despite how Makoto and Rukkhadevata have left things behind, the things they leave behind tend to be restricted to their nations. They even both died within their nations But the place where Egeria died...is in Sumeru. Just within the border, yeah. And it does do a lot of work in setting up Fontaine lore to hype us up. But...it feels a little weird to me that Egeria didn't die within Sumeru.

I wonder if it's a hint that shortly after becoming an Archon, but before Rukkhadevata's death, Furina asked Rukkhadevata to use the Irminsul Tree to help her with something--namely, to help her pull off the ultimate performance. I think that Furina might be the ultimate method actor--what better way of hiding one's Gnosis and disguising one's true plans, after all, than wiping your own memories so that, even if someone interrogates you you can't give up your Gnosis' location or what's necessary for your plans, and even if you're killed by an assassin capitalizing on the opportunity, 'another you' can keep working away at all the issues, and everyone now knows there's someone after the Archon/Gnosis.

Of course, this does mean that Furina's plan may have backfired a little. If this is true, then she's a great decoy...but she's also got a self-inflicted inferiority complex, and is so afraid of admitting that she's weak, confused, and helpless that she can't even admit to Neuvilette someone made an attempt on her life.

I already talked once about Furina, Ei, and Nahida all being foils for each other, where they end up isolated due to being in the shadow of their predecessors, and feeling they're not equipped to do a good job. But if this is true, and Furina created a Focalors-doppelganger, then Furina is also standing in the shadow of her own self. It'd also be incredibly interesting if, while Nahida had to erase memories to move out from Rukkhadevata's shadow, Furina has to regain them--and it'd also have some interesting implications about why Rukkhadevata chose to erase herself, too. Because maybe she got the idea from someone else...

"This is all well and good, but wait, where's Focalors then?"

Ah, this one I actually think most people have already guessed correctly. What's a machine that creates and gathers indemnitum, that's powered by a belief in justice, which Furina supposedly built but doesn't seem to understand(anymore), which apparently spoke to Lyney when he tried infiltrating the Opera Epiclese to examine it, and which Neuvilette ultimately chose to respect the judgment of when it gave a verdict different to his?

Suffice to say. Much like how Elynas chose to appear as a Melusine and Rukkhadevata appeared as Nahida...I think we'll get to chat with the Oratrice in a dreamspace and it will appear as Focalors.

[neon-crayons]

Until something comes along to disprove the theory, I'm theorizing that Zhongli was "The Second Who Came"

From what little we know about him and the little we have of the second, it could very well be possible in my opinion.

It would also explain why so many seem to hate him– Gods, Sovereigns, Shades ... And not to mention the design similarities between him and the Heavenly Principles.

Thoughts?

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

What’s your favorite bit of lore? Or favorite holiday/festival in genshin they’re pretty neat

i'm absolutely biased towards lantern rite tbh

as for bit of lore, i'm not really sure. i feel like 'bit of lore' is really weird to define, bc ultimately most lore is all connected into bigger pictures. obviously i'm partial towards liyue lore in general, but as for a specific little bit...

probably still the possibility that zhongli is partial to archery.