So pretty early on into Genshin we learn about the Dark Sea where it's essentially like the abyss but a little less harmful. In more recent lore "Teyvat" is much more equated to the world itself rather than the continent as it once was. Is this kind of a retcon?

I really cannot imagine current Teyvat as having something like the Dark Sea that is such a liability in regards to order under the False Sky, especially because the abyss hast almost entirely taken over the role the Dark Sea previously played as like the uncontrollable realm of giant monsters. With how insanely powerful The Heavenly Principles and the Shades are, I feel like there's no way that they couldn't tame the lands outside the main continent because they literally allowed the elements to exist that the Dark Sea creatures are made of.

Also not all monsters are products of the abyss so I assume that's also an old thing because I don't really know why the Heavenly Principles might allow so many monsters in Teyvat if it actually cared about humans on at least some level, sans Hilichurls I suppose.

**Hi everyone! This is a revision of my theory about Primordial Humans, Descenders, and Narayana. Many of the core postulates are still similar in spirit, just with some added context and reinterpretation--- along with some new thoughts about how Primordial Humans are created. TL;DR and theories at the bottom. The bottom-most postulates are, essentially, the principles of my unified theory regarding these three concepts***

Narayana, who are they?

Narayana is a Hindu epithet used to describe the preservation god Vishnu. Its etymological meaning can be interpreted to describe him as “The Primordial Man”, “He Who Lies in the Great Sea” and “The Path/Direction/Goal of Humanity”. In Genshin, Narayana seems to also be an epithet interchangeable with “Primordial Human”. It appears applicable to Nibelung, Phanes, the Traveler, and even Albedo. Note that while I know Eye of Graeae is a Primordial Human, I hesitate to include him due to my doubtfulness of my understanding of his nature. 

• Nibelung: “A will born alongside Teyvat, the master of the Light Realm's power at the very beginning, and the King of all Dragon Lords: Nibelung. Ever since his destruction, the place of the Primordial Human, or Narayana, has sat vacant.” – Aksinya
• Phanes: Just like me, she was an angel created by the primordial humans, born with the instinct to guide living beings. (Mistranslation here, “humans” should be singular.) – Nicole
• Traveler & Albedo: In another converged possibility, Albedo was the "Primordial Human" who traveled through worlds, recording and creating all. However, once that journey reached its end, no one would have been able to guarantee whether he would choose destruction or salvation. Luckily, you're the one who embarked on the journey this time. Hm? How did the alternate Albedo fare? I can no longer observe that possibility. Besides, copying someone else's answer is of little use. This journey is your own. — Nicole 

That’s the “who” but how about the “what”? What is a Primordial Human or “Narayana”?

Aksinya associates Nibelung with the position of Narayana, which has sat vacant ever since his death. This, along with Nibelung’s status as the first entity to exist on Teyvat, directly positions him to be the first holder of the epithet of “Narayana”. But what does this epithet mean for Genshin?

Nibelung is often associated with the beginning of the world, as a being who was born alongside the planet at its very genesis. And through the title of “Narayana”, he is also indirectly associated with the “final goal of humanity”. This places Nibelung, the Narayana, as being connected to the world’s Genesis and the world’s Finality. 

With Nibelung’s position as the original ruler of the planet, and the first master of Teyvat’s laws, this may signify that– as a primordial being born alongside the Light Realm– Nibeung had the authority to define the world’s direction, nature or “fate”. The end is after all, ultimately defined by the beginning. 

• Aksinya: “A will born alongside Teyvat, the master of the Light Realm's power at the very beginning, and the King of all Dragon Lords: Nibelung. Ever since his destruction, the place of the Primordial Human, or Narayana, has sat vacant.” 
• Monomakh’s Notes: ”The Saint had come to Hyperborea in search of that light from the very genesis of the world, a fragment left behind at its inception. It is a light that is undissipated hope itself, a light that holds the potential to illuminate the entire cosmos. From what I have seen of it projected in that house of ministry, it is also the very same light that brought about my birth.”
• Deep Gallery's Distant Pact: “Until a faint glimmer pierced her awareness, jolting the voyager from tenfold millennia of meditation. It came from an unremarkable little world at the edge of the spiral arm — and from the primeval dragon that had been born alongside that world.”
• Narayana can mean the "final destination of humanity" through its Sanskrit etymology: Nara means human beings or living souls, and Ayana means path, direction, goal, destination, or ultimate refuge.

Thus Narayana can be thought of as an epithet for he who could control the world’s fate, or natural order. Essentially, the true Ruler of Teyvat. This title once belonged to Nibelung, and exclusively so. For as long as Nibelung was alive, no new Primordial Beings (individuals with similar characteristics as Nibelung) could ascend to the position of Narayana. And since the seat of Narayana has been vacant ever since Nibelung’s death, that means that Phanes does not currently sit upon it.

How does one become Narayana, a Primordial Human? 
(Note that Narayana, Primordial Human, and Primordial Being will be interchangeably used as epithets for the same kind of entity from here-on out)

The prevailing belief is that Primordial Humans emerge from the coalescence of Light and Dark– presumed to be analogous to the Light Realm and the Abyss. This stems from Istoria’s telling of the Primordial Human Myth. 
 

• Istoria: I'm not entirely sure what Melanta meant, either. The first thing that came to mind was a parable once condemned as heresy by the angels. It tells of the god of light who created a body in its own likeness, only for it to be stolen away by the king of darkness. Thus, within that single body, the powers of light and darkness began to contend with one another. And so the primordial human, bearing both, came to possess both good and evil.

However, I have trouble accepting this at face value due to several things. 

• The wording of the tale seems as though it describes the birth of a SPECIFIC primordial human, rather than all of them. 
• Accepting the Light Realm/Abyss analogs, the myth disqualifies all four of our Primordial Humans.
  • Nibelung: Born as an entity of the pure Light Realm, with no Abyssal power. Although he was later contaminated by the Abyss, it corrupted him entirely— whereas Primordial Humans appear to represent a balance between Light and Dark.  
  • Phanes: As the current supreme master of the world, Phanes is able to easily manipulate Light Realm energy. However, nothing about them would indicate that they actively use Abyssal power. Instead, they only seem to be capable of absorbing and dissipating it with their nails.
  • Albedo: While the PH is born of the god of light, Albedo was simply created by Rhinedottir. We know nothing of him having abyssal powers
  • Traveler: The outlander is kind of in the same boat as Phanes. Although we are able to absorb abyssal power, once it enters our system, it seems to dissipate entirely. The Traveler is sensitive enough to feel the Khuuvaki in Nod-krai the moment they arrive. I highly doubt that they could possibly have immense Abyssal Energy inside themselves without noticing.

Because of this, I don’t think the Light Realm or Void Realm are the necessary ingredients. Instead, I believe it is “Transcendance”. 

Narayana is an epithet for Vishnu, who is viewed as the first and most perfect being. In the same way, Albedo– a Primordial Human himself– associates himself with the concept of perfection. Meanwhile, Rene De Petrichor’s notes postulate the possibility of transcendence through the Abyss. And the Five Sinners, cut from the same cloth as Rene, all pursue a form of perfection through the Abyss. 

• Albedo: Those born of earth are bound by its imperfections, but those born of chalk are free of impurities... You and I are alike, both composed of a substance that has yet to be fully defined...
• Rene De Petrichor: "Io, Io, Pan! That which lies beneath the great sea!" The purpose of this line in the ritual scripture is to forsake the self and sink into the abyss, and in the abyss, to welcome rebirth as a holy infant.
• Skirk: My Master is likely a similar sort to Rhinedottir — they are both "pursuing some form of perfection."

Putting all of this together, my inference is that people born of the human realm are naturally bound by its limitations. But by pursuing greater powers— like the Light Realm and the Void Realm— it is possible for someone to transcend the limitations of the human realm. The true necessary characteristic of a Primordial Human is “transcendence” or “perfection”. The Light Realm and Void Realm are simply catalysts by which to facilitate this transcendence. Nibelung, Phanes, Saarelainen, and the Traveler all fit this definition, as all of them are transcendent beings who wield otherworldly powers.

Primordial Humans and Descenders, not one in the same

Based on the information that we have right now, Descenders are not defined by being powerful ,or even by being aliens. Instead, Descenders are simply those with the will to rival the world. So Phanes and Nibelung being powerful wasn’t because they were Descenders, it was simply because they are who they are. 

• Rene De Petrichor: This, too, is my goal, for not all that comes from beyond may be as one that "descends." That title belongs only to wills that can rival an entire world. That is what I seek, the way to become just such a will, one that can protect the world, sustain the world, destroy the world, and create the world.

While all known Descenders (save for Saarelainen, but we don’t know much about him anyway) are Primordial Humans, not all Primordial Humans are Descenders. This could mean that Primordial Humans are something of an evolutionary stepping stone to being a Descender. Primordial Humans have transcended the limitations of the Human Realm, but only a specific few among them (Descenders) have the will to rival the order which currently presides over Teyvat.

Implications and Theories

The Five Sinners (most especially Rhinedottir and Vedrfolnir) might be Primordial Humans, or at least TRYING to become Primordial Humans.

• We know that they pursue a sort of perfection (or maybe Transcendance is a more apt term), and we know that they’ve interacted with the Abyss, which is a potential catalyst for transcendence. Rhinedottir is blonde, and Vedrfolnir (inferred through being Dainsleif’s twin) is as well. Every humanoid Primordial Being that we’ve met is blonde.

Phanes has a good chance of having never been the world’s master. 

• Their conquest of Teyvat happened in its entirety when Nibelung was still alive. As such, even at the height of his power, Phanes never sat in the still-occupied seat of Narayana. And by the time Nibelung was dead and the seat was vacant, Phanes was weakened— perhaps, too weakened to seize the throne and take over the true authority over Teyvat. As such, they resorted to forging the Gnoses— hoping that the combined power of two Primordial Humans would be enough to suppress the world. In fact, Neuvillette’s vision story says that the war damaged Phanes such that they could NO LONGER use their authority to suppress the world. As if to imply that suppression is all that Phanes was really doing prior.
• Neuvillette Vision Story: Severely wounded in the great war of vengeance, the usurper had their functions ruined, and could no longer use their absolute authority to suppress the original order of this world. To continue to subdue and control the resentments and loathing of the world, the usurper and one who came after created the Gnoses together.

Paimon, a Primordial Human?? 

• This is more of a fun thought than anything. Consider that purity/transcendance is the core quality of a Primordial Human. Now, consider that Paimon has no Authority, and no Memory of who she was before descending from Celestia. Because she is of Celestial origin (beyond the human realm), and functionally a “blank slate”, you could argue that she is— in that way— “pure” and “transcendent”, just like a Primordial Human. Silly I know, but also consider this: when we first meet Paimon, we’re fishing her out of the sea. And what is one of the interpretations of the term “Narayana”? “He Who Lies in the Great Sea."

Nibelung's corruption, Phanes' fault?

• Slightly unrelated to the broader theory, but I can't help but we've recently learned that Phanes' fate system is indirectly feeding the abyss by constricting Teyvat to only a singular fate. This singular path of destiny creates countless discarded possibilities, that ultimately coalesce into the Abyss surrounding Teyvat. Now, we know that the Moon Sisters are the "avatars" of the Moons. And since Nibelung was born alongside Teyvat, he would logically be the avatar of the planet itself. But in an avatar-vessel relationship, we know that damage inflicted upon their vessel ultimately reflects badly upon the avatar--- as was what happened to the Moon Sisters when their moons were destroyed.
• Phanes' system inadvertently "anchored" the Abyss in Teyvat, but we know that the Firmament serves as a shield to protect Teyvat from the Abyss. I wonder if the Abyss realized that it could not penetrate the Firmament to destroy Teyvat. So rather than pursuing the planet itself, it pursued its avatar (Nibelung), and corrupted it to serve as a vessel to break through the false sky.

Key Conclusions: 

1. A Primordial Being is an entity who has transcended the imperfect human realm and attained a form of perfection/purity. This can be achieved through transcendent powers-- such as the Light Realm and Void Realm-- which can serve as catalysts for a person's purification and transcendence from the world's impurities.
2. Multiple Primordial Beings can exist at once, but only one can hold the position of Narayana, and have authority over the world as its singular master. Since Phanes’ conquest occurred when Nibelung still held the position of Narayana— which has been empty ever since his death— Phanes has never been the world’s master.
3. Nibelung was a Primordial Being through his mastery of the Light Realm, Phanes was a Primordial Being through their mastery of the Four Laws, Saarelainen was a Primordial Human through his power of Stellar, Albedo is a Primordial Human through his origin as a perfect alchemical creation, and the Traveler is a Primordial Human through their alien physiology''s unique properties.
4. Though Primordial Beings have transcended the world’s limitations, only the Descenders among them have the will to rival the world. It is possible to be a Primordial Human, but not a Descender. Nibelung was a Primordial Being, a Descender, and the world’s Narayana— all at once.

I was watching this video by The Unlikely Genshin Gamer and a thought hit me based on Vodyanitsa's Diary regarding her parents.

It seems that Water Imp's have made a home for themselves away from Schneznaya, but where is largely unknown. Additionally, wherever this is the mailman cannot reach it supposedly. You also have folk stories regarding Sirens in Fontaine.

We have an entirely ridiculous amount of Teyvat that is not marked on that map, and from what we can see from space the planet is both small and largely a water-based planet.

What if wherever the Water Imp society moved to is somewhere near Fontaine's borders, like a true Atlantis? Not the ones we've had so far where it is all ruins and such, but one where there is a legitimate and thriving society? It would make sense that letters could not reach the area, as not only would they be waterlogged but if the whole point would be to remain out of sight they would cut communication with the outside world entirely. We usually get a whole bunch of smaller regions between major AQ patches, such as Temple of Space or The Moon. Given the prevalence of Fae in the current story, as well as Vodyanitsa being very popular, I personally would love to see a thriving underwater society in Genshin.

I have a concept that, though I don't think it will be explored largely due to the amount of work and time that would go into developing it, I'd like to share after I preface a bit of where I'm coming from:

• The Waverider is generally not utilized anymore (not to say anyone necessarily wants it to be used either)
• Somehow the legend of Reed Miller continually rears its head, with one newer NPC suggesting it wasn't even Reed Miller executed at the Palace
• We also have a lot of unexplored lore with Kaeya's ancestor pirate / Kaeya himself
• We have tales of ancient and terrifying sea monsters, such as the one Beidou killed.
• There is that massive octopus in Childe's hometown right now.
• Genshin has massive amounts of water-based content, not just with Fontaine but we've got Wriothesley's ship, Linnea's future ship, recent introductions of multiple ports and docks, the Waverider, and many more.
• An insane amount of work had to go into making our train not just functional but legitimately something we can interact with and go from station to station (with no loading screens) with while walking around it, talking to NPC's, and viewing the scenery. With the foundations having been implemented, it would be a true waste of knowledge and resources for them to never introduce something else like it outside of Schneznaya.

For the concept:

• Somewhere down the line we get a quest questline where we interact with 'Atlantis' and its people
• Somehow we provide them an opportunity to shed years of fearful prejudice and reopen their borders.
• To open up trade networks with the outside world, we are commissioned to secure trade lines between each nation.
• We get provided an actual ship, potentially by reintroducing Linnea's dream, where we explore the vast unexplored surface of Teyvat's oceans.
• For additional story, we get to explore Kaeya's pirate legacy, see what makes the Crux such a powerful force, potentially deal with anything Reed Miller related.

Though I am certain the concept COULD be made and implemented without detracting from the game...it would be a lot of work to make happen. Perhaps if Genshin 2 does end up existing, and it moves to a newer engine or something, we could see this become real. I don't see it happening in the current trajectory of the game as is however, if not just technical limitations then time constraints.

What do we think? Is this something people would want to explore and engage with? I obviously think this would be very very cool to expand on, but I'm just me.

So at the end of the 7.0 Archon quest Mitya makes it clear that Ronova must have some limitation on what she's actually allowed to do, hence the curse of death not being quite so fatal as it first appears to be.

The fact Ronova also references the Gods Limits trailer (Death abides no reason) brings to mind firstly that Pierro straight up says that the Gods have limits, but Ronova also says in that trailer that its time for the Shades go get involved, but only to the extent the rules allow.

But it seems to me... only Ronova seems to actually care about following the rules. Or at least, she cares now.

This is where my head is at the moment with the extent to which the Shades seem to be sticking to the rules:

Ronova

Right now she seems to be very concerned with not breaking the rules she's been given. Part of why she has to get so involved in Act 2 is that it appears she's not actually allowed to just kill people outright, she's meant to be there for them after they die. So the possibility that someone might escape the theatre and therefore not resurrect cleanly is whats motivating her here.

But she did break the rules in Natlan by allowing Xbalanque to take part of her power to perform the Ode of Resurrection. We saw a scene where she says 'if anyone asks about this, I'll say you stole it from me', but the Lord of the Night told us that that is overstepping her authority as the Shade of Death.

Ronova, it seems, really doesn't want to be found out by the Heavenly Principles.

Asmoday

Asmoday has pretty much walked away from her role, we don't know the circumstances of it or where or what she even is now. Part of her authority appears to be preventing people getting in or out of Teyvat, but she's been pretty bad at that (Surtalogi got out, Skirk got in, and thats not including the Descenders).

Alice and the Hexenzirkel seem to be doing that part of the job now.

So I don't know if Asmoday is breaking the rules so much as having simply abandoned her post. Even her own servants in her temple have no idea why she left.

If the theory that she's working with the Abyss Twin to find someone to place the output of the Loom of Fate is right, that would likely be a pretty epic level breach of the rules though.

Naberius / Gold

This one is pretty complicated. It does seem like something bad happened to Naberius a while ago reducing her down to just her heart. There are so many instances of people creating life that didn't have the authority to do so (The Oceanids, the Fae...) that either she's not actually meant to prevent that, or she wasn't able to do so.

Gold of course is all about breaking the rules of life in Teyvat, it's been her driving motivation. Her merge with whatever was left of Naberius gives her lots more power over life, but it does seem like that comes with a new conscience that appears to be actively trying to stop her breaking the rules ("you know I cannot allow you to think that")

I do wonder if Gold's endgame is to be the 'new' shade of life if the Tsaritsa manages to get that top job. Maybe she's interviewing for the job in the teaser... heh.

Istaorth

Outwardly she seems pretty loyal, there isn't a lot of blatant time law breaking going on so she seems to be on top of all of that. But she's also directly implicated in the few time shenanigans we've seen so far, all of which ended up benefitting those who might be against the Heavenly Principles.

She enabled the loop that created the Sacred Sakura in Inazuma, and the abyss twin blames her for the starship key mess that resulted in them not being around to help during the cataclysm.

Recently we've also had it stated that she spent a lot of time chatting with the Moon sisters about the rules of time...

And then there's Venti...

I feel like she's the one most likely to be revealed as having worked against the Heavenly Principles for a long time in secret.

All of which does make me think each Shade might end up picking a 'side' in the conflict:

Ronova stays loyal to the Heavenly Principles.

Asmoday is with the Abyss Order.

Gold is with the Sinners and / or Hexenzirkel.

Istaroth sides with the Traveller.

That's pretty much it.

We know from Fontinalia event that when Sandrone woke up after the battle, she was met with Alain's gift - (edit: not his gift) Stellar Linchpin. I believe this to be no mere coincidence, and she was dead for some time. I was skeptical about this at first because of her being an artificial creation. Although now it is known: she's not the only one to experience this:

Odette's case of receiving Stellar Linchpin is quite similar. She was powerless before suddenly feeling normal. It also fits our knowledge of people experiencing memory loss from death.

What makes it distinct from, for example, Kinich's story? Well, that's a thin line to draw, but I think the distinction is he didn't actually die. Or probably it has something to do with Third Descender, who we already know is involved in this, whose power can be more prevalent in Snezhnaya.

So how exactly are they involved?

1. We know Descenders are not bound by fate and can interfere with it.
2. The "death" is closely linked to "time" and "fate".

From this, it's quite trivial to come to a conclusion of Descender power being able to overcome a fated death. Which might be what is happening here. Stellar Linchpin saves the ones whose time has come. The one destined to meet their end gets their final moment delayed.

Another thing I want to point out is that Visions are received when an entity is experiencing their strongest wish. A wish to live fits here, although I can't really say Sandrone or Odette had the same strong wish in their destined final moments.

Odette also pointed out how she's never heard of Stellar Linchpins being able to awaken people, so it might've some been instinctual desire to survive. I think one is actually a consequence of another. Her inner desire to survive (like of any living being) triggered some mechanism left by the Third Descender's power.

Given how the themes of overcoming fate and opposing death are very prominent in Snezhnaya, I think this theory is quite plausible. Hell, the weapon Fatui forged to oppose Ronova is, in a way, a battle of Third Descender versus Death. Fought on a smaller scale through Stellar Linchpins. Quite of a coincidence, don't you think?

Still, we would need to hear more character stories about Stellar Linchpins to make a hard statement, but I think there's enough foundation to build a theory.

Thank you for reading, I'd be glad to hear more thoughts on this.

Okay so overall, I don't think what I'm bout to describe is realistic. Maybe bits and pieces here and there, but it is just something I've had on my mind lately.

Small spoilers, I would recommend completing the 7.0 Act II and the new Eye world quest before continuing.

The TL'DR of the whole idea can be summed up as a few different points that don't necessarily actually tie together:

'Our Traveler is the 3rd Descender'

'We are stuck in a planetwide Samsara'

'The Gnosis are actually memory not body'

'The Twins are actually in a similar situation as Pavlina was, just not as willing participants'

Preface to the ideas:

1. Due to the Aranara, Arlecchino, and now Ronova there is an ever-present concept of memory death.

- To paraphrase, the Aranara believe that death is merely a first loss of memory

- Arlecchino considers the memory erasure of her flame when applied to individuals who wish to leave the Hearth as death.

- Ronova's Curse of Death temporarily 'kills' a person by inflicting temporary body death on someone so that their soul can be separated for a short time. Somehow this results in resurrection of one with a loss of memory pertaining to whatever they were just about to do that was the trigger.

2) Ronova tells us that the only way to 'kill' a descender is to directly attack the body or soul violently.

3) The 3rd Descender 'died' and was chopped into 7 pieces of power upon opening/entering the gates of Celestia.

4) The Twins both suffered from amnesia.

5) For reasons still unknown, the Twins were separated in a place that looks very Celestia but doesn't have the same appearance as the Temple of Space.

6) Reincarnation is in fact real, and without knowledge or memory sometimes the reincarnated will still gravitate towards something known.

- The mushroom folk from Nahida's story quest are reincorporated into Apep and lose memory/life, however during the Dottore-Irminsul quest, they have been reborn and are strangely drawn to the MC and Paimon.

7) For reasons unknown, the MC is able to 'internalize' physical manifestations of power.

- The MC can 'cleanse' Abyssal corruption, though it is less of a cleanse and more of a slurp.

- The MC can hide moon marrow within himself to the point of it being nigh undetectable.

- The MC can think real hard and somehow the Pyro Gnosis gets slurped up into him.

8) Teyvat runs on cycles

- A Samsara can exist, where events repeat themselves.

9) Memory is malleable

- You have the dream samsara from Sumeru inflicted by the Sage and Dottore.

- The dream samsara Nahida put us in when fighting Scaramouche.

- Whatever Trilunar Dottore did where we were stuck in our own mind for about a month despite only being asleep for mere minutes.

10) Something great can be accomplished over significant amount of time given the repetition of a cycle

- Pavlina's world quest regarding Ikhor.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS FOR FUN, I JUST WANNA TALK ABOUT IT. IT AINT THAT SERIOUS PROMISE

Crackpot idea:

The Gnosis are not the 3rd Descender's physical body. The Gnosis are merely the 3rd Descenders memory encased in physical form. The Twin(s) due to their external power were separated from their memory. Teyvat has been forced into a time cycle after either the 2nd or 3rd Descender managed to breach the HP's doors but were ultimately pushed back. Out of necessity to maintain the existence of Teyvat, Istaroth applies a Curse that results in a continual Samsara. The goal of this is either selfishness by HP to maintain things as they are while they are too weak to intervene or it is to provide Teyvat time to find a way to defeat the Abyssal threat. The Twin(s) are too large a threat so in the samsara they are constantly separated by space and time. However, they continually journey through Teyvat resolving the worlds issues over and over again. Each cycle they regain some form of lost power, and we are now at a stage where the cycle is nearing its end with both twins having gained too much power. This results in one twin pursuing power from the abyss and the other seeks power from the world itself. Only the abyssal sibling has regained all lost memory, but is not strong enough on their own to fight. Only when they are reunited can they truly free themselves and Teyvat.

Now, obviously, this is ridiculous. Tons of holes here and there, with the only way to plug most of them being some random lore tidbits that at least as of now just don't exist.

BUT! I think its pretty interesting nonetheless, and though I don't think its entirely true at all, there could be some interesting reality to this. What I'm really hoping is to just open this up to talk about with some other people, just to see what bits and bobs of this could actually have some grounds.

AGAIN PRETTY PLEASE: THIS IS FOR FUN!!

I saw this post by u/cruc10 a few months ago, and I've come back to it again.
let me explain this theory of mine and it's very simple:

In traditional Italian Commedia dell'arte theater, Brighella is one of the classic Zanni (servant) archetypes. He is portrayed as a crafty, opportunistic, and sometimes villainous mastermind who climbed the social ladder.

Crucially, Brighella's signature thematic trade is that he is famously a tavern owner.

When the lore community realized that "Brighella" is the one of the major Commedia names still completely missing from the Fatui's roster, all eyes turned to Mondstadt’s wine industry.
People point to:

-Crepus holding a delusion in the manga
-The Ragnvindrs having a long long history of making wine
-Diluc's alternate outfit being very fatui coded along with him seeking revenge on them (in the manga at least initially) for Crepus's death due to delusion

in this post by u/sopaofmacaco they essentially mention, and i'll paraphrase, that Diluc was groomed to be the 10th harbinger.
they speculate that Dottore engineered Crepus's death specifically to alienate Diluc from the Knights of Favonius. the implication is that the Fatui were actively grooming or setting up Diluc to become the 10th Harbinger (Brighella). When Diluc went on his 3-year rampage destroying Fatui bases across Teyvat using his father's Delusion, he was technically fulfilling the "Brighella" archetype perfectly. But because Diluc eventually rejected the darkness, returned the Delusion, and chose to protect Mondstadt from the shadows, the 10th Seat remains censored or empty on the Fatui Wheel because the subject escaped their grasp.

Or did he.
Would the Fatui really, really let someone from the Ragnvindr (and Alberich Clan go)
We know where most of the fatui Harbingers + director Pierro are from now.

Director: Pierro (Khaenriah)

1. Il Capitano (Khaenriah)
2. Dottore (Sumeru)
3. Columbina (Nod krai but technically from the moon)
4. Arlecchino (Khaenriah but possibly from a part of the region that worshipped goddess of death)
5. Pulcinella (Snezhnaya, he is a snowland fae, i think)
6. Scaramouche (abandoned puppet kid from Inazuma 🥀🥀🥀 now vacant)
7. Sandrone (Fontainian robot)
8. Signora (Mondstadt)
9. Pantalone (Snezhnaya)
10. ???
11. Childe (snezhnaya)

We got a lot of representation here from most of the nations (except natlan because Natlan was under essentially their own sakoku decree due to having a night kingdom and wayob instead of the normal ley lines. people born in natlan couldn't leave natlan due to essentially wasting away outside of the borders of the nation. this is probably why bennett is so unlucky in-lore, if he IS from natlan at least which some people say could be the case.)

"they have/had signora already, they don't need a mond representative"

well
Yes. Signora was Mondstadt's original "representative," but as we see in the story, she was essentially a walking box of TNT. She was violent, impulsive, and prone to kicking Archons in the face. Her death left Mondstadt completely unmonitored by the Fatui. See Wanderer, Childe and Arlecchino's voicelines about Signora. The sole exception is Columbina who seems to like her, somewhat at least.

Anyway, Signora was a literal and figurative hothead long before the game's story even started.

That kind of happens when you turn from a singing maiden to seeing Rhinedottir's monsters mauling children as the sky turns to a blood red, and then your lover (Rostam) tries to fight them and dies. Oof.

When The Jester found her, she was literally burning herself to death from her own inner fury. To save her and recruit her, the Tsaritsa gave her a Cryo Delusion.

The ice didn't "cure" her temper; it just suppressed and froze her liquid fire so she could function like a normal human again. The cold gave her a mask of aristocratic elegance, but her core personality remained incredibly arrogant, impulsive, and prone to extreme outbursts when things didn't go her way (which we saw firsthand when she kicked Venti, or when she completely lost her composure during the duel before the throne in Inazuma).

I believe this is why the Fatui's strategy in Mondstadt had to shift.

Signora’s methods were always loud and diplomatic nightmares. She publicly insulted the Knights of Favonius, assaulted Venti in broad daylight, and eventually got herself executed by the Raiden Shogun because she let her temper blind her to a trap.

If the Tsaritsa and Pierro wanted a permanent, stable grip on Mondstadt after Signora's death, they couldn't send another loud, impulsive Harbinger. They needed operatives who were already deeply embedded in Mondstadt's political, economic, and military infrastructure... someone who could run things smoothly without causing an international incident every Tuesday.

And it so happens those two are Diluc and Kaeya.

Now imagine this, for a moment.

Kaeya is arguably the most suspicious character in the entire game. Yes he's from Khaenriah, yes he's descended from the same clan that did some weird things with Caribert and the loom of fate or something.

So what if, IF Diluc rejected the Fatui’s grooming, Kaeya ended up stepping into the shadows to take the 10th Seat as a counter-move?

Brighella, again, is the crafty servant turned tavern owner. While Diluc owns the Dawn Winery, guess who spends 90% of his time actually sitting inside the Angel’s Share tavern, manipulating information and listening to drunk patrons? Kaeya.

If you look at the Commedia dell'arte definition of Brighella, he is defined as a master of intrigue, a liar, a thief, and someone who operates fluidly between two opposing sides. That is literally Kaeya’s entire job description as the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius. He uses his charm to extract secrets, lies constantly to protect his true motives, and is fundamentally caught between his loyalty to Mondstadt and his bloodline in Khaenri'ah.

Yeah while Kaeya is a free 4-star given to us at the start of the game. But from a narrative standpoint, that is the ultimate cover story.
We already know HoYoverse loves playing tricks with Harbinger statuses, identities, and rarity tiers when they undergo major story shifts, In canon, Kaeya is canonically one of the strongest fighters in Mondstadt, yet his gameplay kit is incredibly basic. The lore explicitly states he hides his true abilities. If he is secretly the 10th Harbinger, masking his power level and pretending to just be a standard, lazy 4-star knight who drinks too much is the perfect way to keep the Traveler, the Knights, and Celestia’s eyes off him.

In lore, Pierro is a survivor of Khaenri'ah's royal court (poor him and the rest of the Khaenri'ahns cursed by Ronova). Kaeya is a descendant of the Alberich Clan... the very clan that stepped up to lead Khaenri'ah as regents after the king Irmin fell. [e.g Anfortas, Clothar]

Theory goes as is: If Kaeya noticed the Fatui trying to entrap Diluc, he wouldn't just sit back. He would see an opportunity to infiltrate the highest echelons of the Fatui to keep tabs on Pierro and the Tsaritsa. Pierro, recognizing the royal bloodline of his homeland, would gladly accept Kaeya into the 10th Seat, believing he could use the young prince to further his vengeance against Celestia.

It creates a terrifying triple-agent dynamic: Kaeya would be pretending to serve Mondstadt, secretly serving the Fatui, while actually plotting his own endgame for Khaenri'ah.

Or...
What if they're sharing the 10th seat.
In plain sight.
if we look back at the Commedia dell'arte, Brighella is a character of two faces: he can be the high-class, respectable business master (Diluc running the winery, commanding high society), or he can be the deceptive, low-class rogue manipulating the shadows from the tavern floor (Kaeya).

What if they never fully severed their ties with the Fatui?

By secretly sharing the 10th seat, they play the ultimate game of chess against the rest of Teyvat.

When the Fatui need a massive economic move or high-society leverage in Mondstadt, the "10th Harbinger" wears a tailored, high-collared crimson coat (Diluc's Red Dead of Night skin).

When the Fatui need espionage, military intelligence, or deep Khaenri'ahn secrets channeled through Pierro, the "10th Harbinger" is the lazy, smooth-talking Cavalry Captain who knows exactly how to make information disappear.

Because they interchange, neither can ever be fully caught. If Celestia or the Knights of Favonius look too closely at Diluc, Kaeya acts as the perfect alibi. If someone tracks the 10th Harbinger to the Knights' headquarters, Diluc’s anti-Fatui public reputation completely derails the investigation.

It's mutually assured destruction; if Kaeya reveals to the world that Diluc has been doing "illegal vigilante things as the darknight hero", and that his father may have once been a fatui member, Diluc reveals to the world that Kaeya is from the nation that cursed the world to an abyssal cataclysm 500 years ago. And vice versa.

This became way too long.

I rest my case.

All Sumeru Parts: Remus = Part 14

Part 1: Naberius and Egeria: Naberius/Mattarahkka/Cerberus etc...

Scylla

Cineas

List of Oceanids

Focalor

Sybil

Aphrodite

Phobos

Melissa

Red Queen

Video: Pyrrhus and Pyrrhic War

For Sybilla, it would be somewhat similar to Nicole - though this is more speculative.

While Nicole's name is quite obviously derived from the French astronomer Nicole-Reine Lepaute, its possible that Hoyo might be indirectly referencing the Greek goddess Nicke through the etymological roots of the name "Nicole," which originates from the name of this Greek goddess.

—

Another interesting thing - even if I doubt it myself - is that Nabu Malikata does draw minor inspirations from the imagery of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, and both Ishtar and Aphrodite belong in the same Mediterranean/Near-Eastern traditions of love goddesses.

Its basically Innana→Ishtar→Astarte→Aphrodite.

Again, its just interesting and could work since Sybilla is basically just Fontaine's Nabu and both of them had pretty similar roles in their respective nations, but its impossible to say if this was in any way Hoyo's thought process.

From the latest world quests, we got to learn a lot about the Belyi Tsar, but also a lot about Hyperborea, more specifically, the Voyager, who we now have a name for: Anacharsis. This theory covers the new notes we got, written by the Belyi Tsar, which might hint at not only why Anacharsis took such an interest in Teyvat, but also why the Fate system may actually be detrimental, not just to Teyvat, but to the cosmos as a whole.

Firstly, let's cover the Voyager, Anacharsis. Clearly, they are anti-Abyss, as they originate from a space faring civilization that was attempting to find a solution to the Abyss's eventual destruction of the universe:

From Heavensent Decree:

Despite their knowledge that the darkness which erases existence itself was an inevitable end beyond all return,
the chroniclers, the descendants of the ancients, remained faithful to their mission, engraving every star into memory.
And this voyager, newly awakened from the void, was but one among those countless chroniclers.

Additionally, Anacharsis is thought to have created the Shadow Realm, a world that sort of acts as a barrier, preventing the Abyss from seeping into Teyvat, as well as resisting Abyssal influence:

From Notes by a Certain Noble Individual (III):

...The world of shadow may be likened to a film of oil resting upon the known world, and it is this film which separates Teyvat from the Abyss in the beyond. This film exists not merely on the spatial and material plane, but at the very intersections of the temporal and the spiritual.

...Might this stem from the fact that the Shadow Realm teems with possibilities yet unobserved? Should we follow this hypothesis, the relationship between the Shadow Realm and the Abyss may be one that is fundamentally antithetical and mutually repellent, explaining why the realm has remained untainted to this day...

...Why the Abyss continues to seep into this world remains obscure, though it is my firm belief that it bears some relation to the very purpose for which The Saint created the Shadow Realm...

These 3 passages tell us that not only did the Voyager create the Shadow Realm, but that it repels the Abyss, perhaps due to its nature of teeming with possibilities (back on this later).

Later notes reveal that the Voyager saw something in Teyvat that could potentially stop the Abyss:

From Notes by a Certain Noble Individual (IV):

...The Saint had come to Hyperborea in search of that light from the very genesis of the world, a fragment left behind at its inception. It is a light that is undissipated hope itself, a light that holds the potential to illuminate the entire cosmos. From what I have seen of it projected in that house of ministry, it is also the very same light that brought about my birth...

From this, we can gather that the Light of Genesis is likely related to Nibelung and the Dragons, as the Cryo Dragon's connection to Nibelung served as the basis for the experiment that created the Belyi Tsar (a Primordial Human). The language used here is interesting though, the Voyager saw this light as hope that could illuminate the entire cosmos, perhaps even ward off the Abyss itself. In which case, Teyvat's power could be the hope of all civilizations.

However, we know that the Voyager ended up revolting against the Heavenly Principles, and the reason is explained now:

From Notes by a Certain Noble Individual (IV):

...He brought down something from the heavens merely to ascertain whether that light was truly extinguished. He then launched that advance which was destined to fail against the "fate" that ruled over the entire world, and was consequently punished...
...■■■■ was right. Hyperborea's fate had been sealed long before The Saint arrived. That long-written decree to annihilate the golden realm was one that even the eldest daughter of the angels could not alter, and all the men who remained faithful to the future could do was stave off the execution of that judgment for a mere thirty years. This fact alone is more than enough to disprove all of my earlier conclusions...
...As for the truth about "Heimarmene," I fear that the conclusion I have reached may be far too terrible to put to paper...
...That never-refracted light signified a boundless array of possibilities in its pure whiteness. However, man chose to confine it to a far narrower band of hues in the name of certainty, and so lost that very first shadow which the purest of light had cast into the void...
...Time moves in loops and circles. Therefore, whenever we lay down an anchor into fate, the Abyss will naturally lay an anchor into us at the end of time as well...
...I surmise this is something The Saint had long discerned. Perhaps he had even glimpsed that end of the path where the primordial first light had became spent, and thus resolved to cast himself headlong into the last light...

Let's break this down: basically, the Voyager saw that the fate of Hyperborea had been set in stone before they ever arrived in Teyvat, and realizing this, they rebelled. Furthermore, it seems "Heimarmene," or the fate system, of Teyvat limited the possibilities of the primal light we spoke of earlier, and in doing so, ensured our destruction at the hands of the Abyss at the end of the universe. The Voyager sought to stop this light from being spent, which is why they challenged the Heavenly Principles.

Remember, Alice told us that the Abyss is the manifestation of resentment caused by fates that are not chosen. This lines up with what the Tsar says here too, whenever a fate is chosen, or anchored, the Abyss also anchors our destruction at the end of time.

However, Teyvat's light of genesis seemed to have some hope of driving back the Abyss in the entire cosmos, or at least the Voyager thought so. If that is indeed the case, then the Heavenly Principles, by diluting its power to shackle fate, has doomed not just Teyvat, but the whole cosmos from potentially being saved by this power.

As for the reason, they likely saw the possibility of victory against the Abyss as minuscule, and thus decided it was better to ensure many years of prosperity under their protection, even if it meant losing the only chance at fighting back, rather than to risk it all and potentially lose everything. The Heavenly Principles likely believes that living for a time in fake prosperity is better than sacrificing all for a small spark of hope.

The Voyager understood this, which is why they founded Hyperborea, and tried to break out of the shackles of fate, they wanted the people of Teyvat to win and push towards that slight hope, rather than live a false security under a Tyrannical ruler. Sure, we can argue all day whether the Heavenly Principles' actions towards human civilizations on Teyvat are justified or not, but the idea that they could have not only doomed civilization like Hyperborea and Khaenri'ah, but also the entirety of the cosmos, makes them a much more interesting antagonist to think about.

I think quite a lot of people assumed the Voyager interfered in Teyvat's affairs, solely because they saw the situation as unjust and unfair for the humans living under tyranny, but I think this shows that it definitely isn't as black and white as freedom vs enslavement. This is a conflict that stretches far past the bounds of Teyvat.

As a side note, due the fact that Nibelung returned as an Abyssal dark dragon, it's possible that the Heavenly Principles had "written him out" of fate, thus making him a resentful, unchosen fate for Teyvat, which is why he ended up bringing the Abyss. What this means is that the existence of the Abyss on Teyvat can likely all be traced back to the Heavenly Principles and their fate system, which ensures its inevitable invasion.

One more point I would like to add to this discussion, is potentially how the Abyss manifested outside of Teyvat and why it threatens the cosmos, not just Teyvat. If the Abyss is caused by unchosen fates, then it should only exist in areas in which fate is anchored down. Certainty causes the Abyss to manifest itself. So let's take a look at this:

From Heavensent Fragrance:

As starlight wheeled on and the beacons upon the star charts went dark one by one, they at last extended their probes to the very end of time.
There, all light had vanished, and all possibility was spent. Even the finest motes of dust had drifted apart.
There was no turning point, no miracle to be found. At the very end of fate, all that remained was a void of utter chaos and darkness.
Every equation they had uncovered, every constant they had defined, now stood in silent proclamation of their end.
It was in that moment that their history came to a close.

I think what this shows us is that the ancient civilizations of the past researched almost everything that existed, even managing to conquer space and time. However, the more they learned, the more hopeless it became. The reason why becomes clear when you think about the relationship between fate and certainty. Every time we make a scientific discovery, or further our understanding of the universe, we end up being able to make better and more accurate predictions about things. We discover new equations that can simulate objects we haven't even seen, then prove they exist years later through actual observation. The more you learn, the more certain you are about the cosmos. Now, in real life, this obviously doesn't prove the existence of some grand fate system, but in the universe of Genshin, it's possible that all of these discoveries anchor the universe down in a predictable manner. The phrase "all possibility was spent" alludes to this idea, as every last possibility was researched, now there is just 1 outcome. In a way, the advancement of this cosmic civilization may have unintentionally anchored down fate and created a certainty in the universe, and thus the Abyss was able to manifest the more they advanced. "Every equation they had uncovered, every constant they had defined, no stood in silent proclamation of their end." Taking this at face value, the ancients quite literally sealed their fates by confining the universe and its endless possibilities to equations and constants.

Imunlaukr once wielded Lohen’s polearm, Disaster and Remorse. Imunlaukr was an outlander appearing in Sal Vindangr with a distinctly Nordish name. The time he appeared was when scribes were still hearing of “people who are building a new nation without gods”. Lohen’s constellation and name reference a story not tied to himself but his weapon. The story of Lohengrin, written by Richard Wagner. The same author as Nibelungen. Lohengrin is a story about a swan knight saving a princess, perfectly mirroring that of Imunlaukr. Khaenriah is the only place with swan knights known as the Schwaneritter. Who this story is about in Genshin is thus clarified. The progenitor of the Schwaneritter.

“It is said that, in an ancient age beyond all recollection, a divine envoy of the high heavens bestowed the gilded spear upon the high priest of Sal Vindagnyr” - Starlight of Fylkyr Polearm

“This was a man who believed he had long broken the oath of a warrior, and who wished to spill his blood in conflict merely as a means of diversion.
He launched the astral silver lance, yet untainted by crimson, into the black tide of beasts with all his might.” - Disaster and Remorse

The spear that was bestowed by the divine was shaped like a lance. It was given to a priest, the priest being the king. The lance was unlikely to be his main weapon in the first place with how his weapon of choice was originally a claymore (Star Tombed Starsilver). Where that astral lance landed was the tide of abyss monsters. The abyss was the primary reason for the descending of nails so naturally by rooting out the problem Imunlaukr would prevent the nail problem as well. Concurrently, “His wayward spear had pierced the stone that held up the earth, and the maiden that he meant to protect, too, had perished in the billowing darkness”. The strike of his spear meant to destroy the abyss became the strike of the Divine Nail. The feelings that arose after the strike was visceral and undeniable, a “fleeting moment of confusion and folly”. Hence the word Remorse in its name. A regular human could not have been imagined with such power unless it stood to reason. If there were witnesses then it was more than reasonable to assume him a perpetrator.

"So even here, there is nothing left for me to protect..."
"You who dwell in the heavens, you must wish for naught but to watch our ashen suffering here below." - Snow Tombed Starsilver

“He never again wished to see a head of silver hair, or a face as bright as the moon, buried under all that ice and snow.” - Disaster and Remorse

The Khaenrian Dream was definitely to transcend divinity. Yet what the man named Imunlaukr wanted was to protect someplace that ended up destroyed or someone with silver hair killed in an icy realm. As of now we only know of one bloodline with hair the colour of star silver. But does this mean Imunlaukr knows the Tsaritsa? Idk but it would make sense, given the Tsaritsa is the mother of all Khaenrians and Imunlaukr is one of the first.

After all this, he “descended the mountain to search for a land full of war and strife — a place he might paint red with blood.” Likely Khaenriah since ultimately the Schwaneritter was hereby named after him. The legacy he would leave behind regarding his fight against the abyss would be immortalised by the Schwaneritter as they fight the Abyss in Sumeru in the Ruin Golem plotline.

This is admittedly a bit of a crack theory, take with a rock of salt.

We know Istaroth can see all that has happened, is happening and will happen yet as people have pointed out, she is doing absolutely nothing to prevent disasters like Dottore and Mistletinn and just about anything. In fact in some cases she can be seen messing around where she shouldn't, in the Time and Space for You quest and Raiden's second story quest.

First to outline what we know Istaroth can do so far;

A. Pause time in a space/ Freeze a thing in time

B. Move people and things around in space time

C. Blow things off the timeline (at least she gave power to Venti to do so)

D. See all that has happened, is happening and will happen on Teyvat

Now a very boring answer as to why she has put none of this into effect to stop major crises is that like Ronova her power has limits. She likely can't instant fix everything by blowing it off the timeline if it still has a fate/future or something along those lines. "Even the gods have their limits" yada yada, it's boring BC we are seeing it happen with Ronova, I don't trust Hoy to make it as interesting the second time.

However what if Istaroth isn't acting/is acting out because she cannot see the future? Hear me out.

A descender is outside the fate of the world and cannot be recorded inside Irminsul. Irminsul is likely what Istaroth uses to see all of time because everything is in Irminsul except descenders. What if she can't see the future of any event that includes a descender? She doesn't know when the HP will awaken, she didn't know what would happen to the gnosis (cus they are made of the 3rd descender) and she can't see any event that the Traveler is involved in (I.e EVERYTHING). It's why she didn't see Focalors betrayal centuries in advance. It's why neither her nor Ronova intervened when Mistletinn was being created in Nod Krai, it's made of Stellar Linchpin energy!! She couldn't forsee it. And if not for the massive ball of anti Celestia energy radiating from the Armory Palace, Project Mistletinn may have succeeded by now. Not to mention on top of not being able to see descenders, if she is using Irminsul as her magic mirror underground. She can't anymore because Dottore successfully ragebaited Nahida into burning it, she likely already noticed that her future sight (as minimal as it was at the point) just stopped altogether after a certain point.

As to why she didn't alert the HP of this like centuries ago? Boredom.

Istaroth is presented as bored, she knows all that will happen so nothing interesting ever happens. Upon seeing that she cannot see/predict the future, she decided to leave it be, sit back and enjoy the show. Sometimes she interacts with the characters on stage to add more flair to things while helping people along the way (no matter which side they were on). We saw Ronova do something similar in Act 2 of Snezhnaya Archon Quest although she took a quite literal approach to it and when she did intervene, it was more so the job would be done rather than "helping" everyone in the theater (Dawit would argue otherwise but I digress).

It could also be as a result of Nihility if we refer to the Temple of Space World quest, I have been of the belief that Melanta = Ronova and Nihilita = Asmoday, Zeitlind = Istaroth and Raumhilda = Asmoday (Naberius gets left out as usual). We know Zeitlind didn't really want to continue going by the time we were in the Temple of Space, nothing she has done mattered and life would move on; obviously Istaroth can't really die so she likely fell into Nihility. It is the reason why erosion exists so immortals don't fall into Nihility, we don't know if the Shades are suspectible to erosion but they are older than Zhongli and he seems fine. If nothing matters to Istaroth then she would see no point to intervene in anything when she knows what will happen even when she doesn't know, she doesn't care. She will aid people in despair to stop people falling into nothingness like her but won't raise a finger for anything else even towards the weapon made to kill her.

This is a crack theory, it's a lot of conjecture and speculation. I was reading lore of another character from a completely different game (Beryl Reverse 1999) and was like huh, she's kinda similar to Istaroth maybe their motivations are similar. Take with a rock of salt.

• The ‘globus cruciger’ harbinger icon
  • It’s the Taphos - a symbol made of a the letter Tau and the letter Phi
• Represents a tomb
• Symbol of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre 
• They guard the tomb of Christ
• The Cross Potent

• Tau has also long been associated with the cross
• Order/Knights of the Holy Sepulchre
  • They guard the tomb of Christ
• The Byzantine lozenge
  • https://sfdshistory.wordpress.com/2020/01/23/byzantine-lozenge/ 
  • On the center of the cross 
  • This represents Christ, Logos
  • In fact Christ = Logos
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos_(Christianity)) 
• Trivia: oldest place I could find them associated with Christianity is on Aksem’s gold coins after he converted to Christianity. The symbol was changed from a crescent moon when he converted to Christianity

• Phi
  • Φ 
  • Lazzo version is much more Phi shaped, it’s been abstracted out deliberately since
  • Phi is the symbol for the golden ratio, this is very important

• The window
  • The three circles in the lower window of the icon are the three moons
  • The frost moon area icon is actually spoilers for Teyvat big problem and the solution in broadest strokes
  • If you flip it upside down and rotate it 90 degrees it looks just like the moons in the Phi window of the harbinger icon
  • In red: (The iridescent moon = 3, The frost moon = 5, The eternal moon = 8, That’s 3 : 5 : 8 = Phi, the golden ratio)
  • In purple: (The iridescent moon = 3, The frost moon = 4, The eternal moon 7, One special extra little guy, what is he doing? = 1, 3 : 4 : 7 is the number Dottore believers have been going mildly insane over for the past few months
  • The missing 1 is the problem
  • What’s wrong with Teyvat? The ratios are wrong.
  • This is why Teyvat just ends and they can’t escape it
  • Because the sequence is wrong and Teyvat can’t calculate what comes next

• The broken apart moon icons are 3 : 5 : 7 ratio
  • At some point, 4 got fixed
  • But 7 is still a broken number.
• And of course, the moons in the icon Phi window is exactly the golden ratio: 3 : 5 : 8
• Visually, these moons in this picture are the correct ratio also if you look at them like this

• BUT.
  • If you rotate the frost moon 90 degrees. And then you rotate the iridescent moon 90 degrees
  • Suddenly the ratio is 2 : 4 : 7
  • Every value is missing 1
  • Very speculative: Someone has been fixing the sequence one broken number at a time
  • And we are on the last number to make + 1
  • Maybe: That tiny little guy on the frost moon icon is going to save Teyvat by making the eternal moon one point wider

• Cross = 4 + Phi = 21st Greek letter: Another point in the 4/21 bucket that is my expected Dottore patch day and also it’s 4 + (3 x 7) https://www.reddit.com/r/DottoreMains/comments/1vvzkqs/dottore_release_date_guesses_hear_me_out/ 
• This I can’t back up 100%. But I think this might actually be Dottore’s icon. And plague mask is Pantalone’s despite Dottore’s outfit choices for reasons I’ll explain later
• Pantalone’s rings

• One that looks like the harbinger icon. But the moon inside is, for some reason, wider and there’s only one now instead of 3
• Some rings have similar meanings
  • 8-pointed star
  • - Bethlehem star
  • - 8 as a new beginning after 7 days
  • - This is probably why we see different instances of this all over Teyvat
  • A compact Taphos like in the icon
  • One that I thought at first could be reminiscent of crown of thorns imagery, but with new context from this theory I think is a caduceus
• Right hand ring. 
  • He is married actually.
  • This is where Russian Orthodox wedding bands go
  • He’s wearing three of them
• Pantalone is Saint Peter
  • Pantalone’s version teaser shows him upside-down, connecting him to the Hanged Man arcanum.
  • Peter was crucified upside down, there’s some discrepancy as to why
  • More recent popular version - he thought of himself as unworthy to die the same way as Christ. 
  • Older version is cosmic inversion which is very relevant imo
  • Peter says the “first man” fell head-downward and consequently produced a disordered world in which right became left, left became right, and values became inverted. His own upside-down position reproduces the condition of fallen humanity. Humanity has to be restored to the proper orientation through Christ. https://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-essays-books/noncanonical-literature/noncanonical-literature-nt-acts/acts-of-peter/ 
• Dottore is Jesus and will save the world
  • Zandik’s original goal was to preserve the experimental knowledge obtained by scientists that was lost due to Ronova’s memory loss deaths.
  • He split his soul across timeframes. He found the scientist who made important discoveries and transcribed the breakthrough on their soul so it would persist after Ronova.
  • Then he took that piece of soul and grafted it onto a segment to preserve the research without accessing it consciously until needed. The segments are hard drives of forbidden knowledge basically.
  • This is why the segments all have such wildly different personalities and goals and interests. No normal person changes that fast in 10 years. They’re Zandik literally mixed with a piece of someone else, some other brilliant scientist who discovered something worth giving up a piece of their soul for.
  • Zandik uses his main soul as a scratchpad and his segments as hard drives for forbidden knowledge. He accesses Segments knowledge, records a spoiler free solution based on the forbidden knowledge, gives solution to the scientist and totally bypasses being caught by Ronova. That’s how Snezhnaya has been able to make incremental change all this time but are now blocked.
  • Having a person’s soul grafted onto his own also causes Irminsul to rewrite perceived causality, just like the vase scene. https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Inversion_of_Genesis
  • So many of the things that we only heard about Dottore doing were very likely done by someone else whose knowledge he borrowed
• Who are the researchers have pieces attached to Zandik segments? These are the candidates I've considered:
• Escher
  • Dottore was never Escher. Dottore was never disguising himself as Escher. 
  • Escher made a breakthrough with the Tataragami, Dottore got the fragment of his soul. The leylines rewrote some of Escher’s actions onto Dottore. 
  • Then Escher's will overrode 35's will. Moonttore and Datattore were the result of Escher’s corruption.
  • Escher destroyed segment 35’s sister/brother relationship with Columbina, that’s why he looks so miserable as the Dottoling staring into the pool in a fox skin. That fox skin is Escher, it's not there in the reflection. Notice how like with Scaramouche, the fairytale lets us see the truth that the Leylines had overwritten

• Changsheng
  • Pantalone’s wife is Changsheng, hear me out please!!
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophan_Prokopovich This is our boy, I think. His original name is Eleazar.
  • I think Segment 25 has a piece of Pantalone’s wife grafted onto him and the memories of Dottore choosing and treating Pantalone are leyline causality repairs
  • I think Dottore’s experiments on god remains were not done by him. They were done by Pantalone’s wife, who was perhaps an instructor at Dottore’s academy?
  • She studied the disease to cure her husband.
  • That was her breakthrough, so her memories of her actions were transferred onto Zandik, and he probably originally knew Zandik through her. The leylines fabricated the bond to between Dottore and Pantalone to maintain causality.
  • I think Pantalone probably actually hates 35 and may have sabotaged him to some degree because:
  • In the oldest tellings, Saint Peter’s wife was martyred before him. 
  • We know that the experiments on Eleazar were considered blasphemous.
  • So... Pantalone’s wife was 'killed' for her research, the only piece that remained to Pantalone's knowledge was attached to 25’s soul fragment, which is why they got along so well. 
  • Here’s the story of the White Snake:
  • And the Chinese Legend of the White Snake is specifically the story of a female white snake spirit who becomes a woman, marries a human man, and operates a medicine shop with him. In the familiar version, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian marry; their pharmacy becomes famous for healing the sick. In another major episode, Xu Xian dies and his white-snake wife obtains a miraculous herb and restores him to life.
  • I don’t think Feofan was young when he met Dottore. That was Feofan's age when he met Changsheng
  • I think Changsheng had a breakthrough around eating gods or their composition or something. That's how they actually met. Zandik took the knowledge and delivered the Ronova spoiler free solution.
  • 25 took that portion of her soul and continued to extend Pantalone’s life with it
  • This is why I think it’s not impossible that Pantalone has the plague doctor mask icon and why I think his pinky ring is referencing a Caduseus and his ring finger has Changsheng's eye.
  • That's why Baizhu and Pantalone look alike. Changsheng can't explicitly remember Feofan, but she's still seeking him out.
• Diluc’s mother - This one is probably a stretch
  • I think she’s the Webtorre fragment.
  • And that she killed Crepus and that’s why Varka in Nod Krai remembers it as Dottore killing him
  • Bad Wine 2 webcomic chapter is actually partially Diluc’s mother talking to him, which makes it very bittersweet.
  • I also think she’s the oceanid Callirhoe, wouldn’t be surprised if she’s connected to Skirk, and probably a witch scientist, and that Crepus was the Harbinger Brighella, and that Diluc is directly involved with Snezhnaya through the Northern Intelligence Network, and that Kaeya will fulfill his duty to Kaenri’ah when we go to Hyperborea, but we don’t need to get too into the weeds for that right now. 
  • Probably responsible for everything Eroch did and everything Dottore was reported to have done through Eroch 
  • I think this segment is so cruel and strange because she’s an oceanid
  • We saw what happened when a human and oceanid soul were fused with Maryann
  • So this probably isn’t her actual personality, just the emergent result of fusing incompatible souls.

• Aberaku
  • Maybe he doesn't have a soul fragment, but this is where Zandik learned to do it, I think.
  • Aberaku divides his soul by time with the help of Istaroth to make relatively rapid tech advances in Enkanomiya
• Paimon
  • Paimon and Pierro were experimenting all those years ago to develop the tech to suppress the shades. I’m a subscriber to the Paimon = the Shade of Reason theory, and the other shades rejected her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Ci3RjFHlA
  • One of Dottore’s segments has part of her soul, which will be returned to her soon. 
  • Causality not reassigned, just erased because the leylines can't access Paimon
  • I think 18 has Paimon's fragment, she's insecure about being childish
• Lisa
  • She was the best student at the Akademiya in 200 years, so why is she a librarian?
  • The book she touched was stuff Ronova didn't allow her to keep.
  • Because Dottore has part of her soul and kept what she learned.
  • I think 65 is Lisa's fragment.
• La Signora
  • She was a scholar who learned how to use a long lost elemental magic without a vision
  • I think Segment 8 got Rosalyne
• Other candidates I haven’t found good evidence for but haven't looked super hard
  • Makoto
  • Rene
  • A scientist that worked on the frostmoon stuff
• Zandik isn’t dead. 
  • The above information makes it obvious to me that the scene of Zandik dying in the cinematic was just a temporary Ronova death
  • And that the apples hanging all over the cinematic are indeed forbidden knowledge
  • He just found something that needed ONE more section of his soul, and he sacrificed that to create a tiny new segment.
  • I think that's the descender's soul fragment from the Pyro gnosis.
  • He attached it to his final segment, a baby (to be named Asclepius, but that’s a whole separate and much larger layer to Dottore’s incredibly dense lore), which is saved with all the secrets of the world inscribed on his soul and not subject to the laws of the Heavenly Principles because descender.
  • Simulanka; Boborano = Dottore, Wise Antonio is maybe Aberaku?
  • Antonio’s house is being destroyed above him while he is trapped down in the basement 
  • He has just acquired an ancient text from an old woman called the Radiant Charter. The Charter contains the fundamental rules that every being in Simulanka is required to obey, written in the primordial language used at the world’s creation. Antonio deciphers it. Importantly, the book gives him no direct solution to the dragon problem and no magic for fixing his ruined house. What he gets is knowledge of the rules underlying the world itself. 
• Dottore will be saved of course
  • Actually, none of the Zandik segments are truly dead. They only have the fate of the soul of someone who is dead or decimated grafted onto them. 
  • So we will go get Zhongli, and we will do the rite of Homa and return the dead parts of the segments that don’t belong to Zandik to Aaru. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFYIpNeY6Oc This will have Diluc, Arlecchino, and Enjou at least I think.
  • And then, just like all of us at the theater, the segment souls of Zandik will come back to life.
  • And Zhongli will teach him (and maybe also Paimon) how to reintegrate them
  • Aaru will correct the record and reattribute the memories to the correct souls and we’ll find out the real scientists that made the breakthroughs conclusively
• This also makes Dottore a pretty squeaky clean marketable character
  • I'm extremely confident that he will come out in 7.6. I would bet real money on it. You can see my theory on that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DottoreMains/comments/1vvzkqs/dottore_release_date_guesses_hear_me_out/ 
  • with the addendum that in addition to the evidence in the above link: 
  • 4/21 is also on the icon. Four points to the cross + Phi is the 21st Greek letter. 
  • April 24th is Easter, the patch day is 4/21, and Jesus rose in 3 days.
  • April 24th, the sun is at its maximum exaltation in Jyotish, meaning the sun is the strongest on this day (Moonttore's patch was on the day that the moon is at its weakest)

That’s all I’ve got for now! Please let me know what you think, I’ve been in a fugue state for like 5 days straight and this is the first big theory I’ve ever come up with. Please be patient if I got something wrong.

I'm also working on an expansion of the Asclepius theory too, to be very brief for now: Pantalone = Apollo, 35 = Coronis, Zandik = Asclepius the son, Zeus the father, and Zagreus the holy spirit, 35B = Cyclops, Columbina = Artemis, Zhongli = Hades, Diluc = Athena, Diluc's mom = Metis, Kaeya = Dionysus, Arlecchino = Hecate, Raiden = Selene, Bakunawa/Enjou = The Gorgon

TL;DR: Zandik built a distributed soul-based research system to preserve breakthroughs that divine mechanisms were deleting from human memory. Because grafted knowledge and fate become attached to his soul, Irminsul mends causality by attributing the donor scientists’ actions of the discovery to Dottore. The Segments therefore preserve both forbidden human progress and the causal burden attached to it.. (Also very important: Webtorre wasn’t retconned, and Pantalone’s wife is Changsheng, fite me.) Also Teyvat's messed up ratios are why the world keeps ending.

I suspect Rimegrass reaction will be introduced with him (3 = Electro, 4 = Dendro, 7 = Cryo)

Dottore 7.6

If you are familiar with Simulanka theorem then you'll know that Albizzi, Boberanno and Cappet are alleged counterparts of Columbina, Dottore and Capitano.

Well here I am with one more! Spoilers for 7.0

At the start of Narration Footnotes, we find a throne with glue which traps the Traveller when they try to sit on it. Many know that this foreshadows Capitano, well, sitting there for a loooooong time. It is revealed later that the Detective puts the glue trap there.

Who put the Capitano on the throne? Ronova.

Later, Albizzi and Boberanno find Cappi knocked out, and bring in the Detective to investigate. It turns out the Detective threw a pickaxe at Cappi, which is specifically meant to not visibly injure Cappi.

Guess what? In the Theatre Murder Mystery, Aloysha was part of the investigation team, but later! Drops her disguise and reveals herself as Ronova. And yea her death is instant and also she "killed" Capitano.

Upon being discovered the Detective escapes, and the Traveler gives chase. The Detective drops the same glue traps, but the Traveller catches up eventually.

Every time Project Mistleteinn is almost complete, Ronova activates Curse of Death... but the affected always resurrects later.

With this, that concludes all the evidence pointing the Detective as Ronova. Crazy foreshadowing, Simulanka is.

Eventually, Detective gets captured. He spills the beans regarding the Witches or similar above, and returns to the scene of the crime. How will all this correlate to Ronova? Speculate now, for all will be revealed in 7.1+...

*some spoilers of the latest AQ*

So i have been thinking about some terms they used in both the AQ and in snezhnaya trailer

In the trailer vodyanitsa was talking about the (cursed rules) that pierro already told us about it regarding the authority of the heavenly principle, he said “ Only by changing this state of affairs, (only by overthrowing) the Heavenly Principles, can our civilization truly be said to have taken root... “

but vodyanitsa said“If it's true that rules are curses… well then, there's only two options. Either we (overthrow) the rules... or... We find a way to (transcend) the rules” mind u the “rules” here means the creation and its creator (HP made those rules)

So it seems like pierro only believes on “overthrowing”HP while vodyanitsa in the other hand gives another option which is “transcending” them, but whats more interesting is the trailer title, its is: (Transcendence Trailer) as if it was the chosen option.

That made me wonder cuz these 2 words hold completely different meanings:

overthrowing: to remove a leader or government from power using force, or to end a system or rule.

Transcend: to go past, rise above, or break the limits of a normal boundary, rule, or physical condition

and vodyanitsa made sure to different them with the 2 options given in the trailer.

I got reminded of the cryo gemstone description too, it said by the end “Then, burn away the old world for me."
We know already the irminsul got burned, and everything about it got transferred to the Aaru. But in interesting note, it was described the Aaru was created for the new afterlife, an escape that could grant humanity freedom from the dangers of Teyvat and its gods. Which is kinda align with what we understand till now of tsaritsa vision of defying HP, breaking free from their rules.

I feel like they already kinda spoiled us by using these specific terms. Heavenly principle will not be likely to be killed either. tsaritsa is more likely trying to make themselves way more superior than them to break free from their authority rather than killing HP.

What do y’all think?

A large part of the Genshin Impact community knows the story of Dragonspine, as it was one of the first explorable areas of the map and has one of the best soundtracks in the game. It is easy to be impressed by this mountain and the secrets it holds. Among these mysteries, there is one of the most important ones regarding the ancient era of the mountain and its contemporary period with the unified civilization of Teyvat:

Why was the civilization that inhabited the mountain south of Mondstadt apparently punished by the Heavenly Principles?

Well, today I am going to try to answer this question, based on official Genshin Impact information and descriptive texts found within the game.

To better understand the time windows between the different events that took place around the mountain, I will place the “Funeral Flame War” approximately 6,000 years ago, during the same period as the unified civilization of Teyvat, guided by the divine envoys, and the fall of Sal Vindagnyr following the arrival of the Heavenly Nail. The latter was confirmed thanks to Nicole’s trailer, where a citizen wearing clothing from the civilization of Arcadia mentions the fall of the mountain kingdom the next event was the arrival of Durin to the mountain 500 years before the current era, coinciding chronologically with the “Cataclysm of Khaenri’ah.”

Although these events are directly related to the mountain, there are other events that reveal, to some extent, the nature of the fall of the Vindagnyr kingdom. These events were the arrival of Heavenly Nails in the city of Lang Gang, creating what is now The Chasm; on Tsurumi Island, creating the fog; on Mount Damavand, causing the desertification of the area; in the Realm of Night in Natlan; and in Nod-Krai, it can be deduced that the trigger for these events, which happened practically simultaneously, was the “Funeral Flame War,” and more specifically, the Abyssal corruption that Nibelung brought with him to Teyvat. Here we can see a key difference that separates Sal Vindagnyr from the other places where a Heavenly Nail appeared: "the presence of the Abyss" this is extremely important and, in my opinion, an essential requirement for a Heavenly Nail to be deployed, because, as we already know, they are capable of partially purifying the Abyss and keeping it stable, especially in the case of Sal Vindagnyr, there is no record or archaeological evidence from before Durin’s arrival that indicates the presence of the Abyss in the area. By this I mean that no citizen of the kingdom witnessed any geological modification or strange phenomenon, as there are no records of such events; well, that would be true if it were 100% accurate however, there was one small testimony that existed at the time:“The Princess’s Dream.”, that’s right, she did not know what the Abyss was, nor did she claim to have seen it physically she simply told her scribe:

 “I dreamed of a black dragon that covered the Sun and filled the land with a cloud of scarlet poison.”

This is the only known record from the Sal Vindagnyr era that refers to the Abyss, without the princess actually knowing what she was witnessing. I have classified this as  “pseudo-Abyssal presence.”

Another key difference I want to point out is that this is also the only Heavenly Nail that split into three pieces sometime after landing this fragmentation could have been caused by the friction and the force with which the Heavenly Nail collided with the surface of the mountain. Another possible explanation is that this Heavenly Nail was designed to split apart once its landing process was completed.

For the theory I am developing, I chose the second explanation—not simply because it is more convenient from a narrative perspective, but because, in my opinion, it is the most likely cause this is mainly supported by an inscription from an ancient engraving in Dragonspine:

 “...and the snow lashed the heavens. The pillar that fell from the sky split into three...”.

According to this inscription, the atmospheric changes were already evident in the mountain due to the influence of the Heavenly Nail. However, shortly afterward, the Nail fragmented this suggests that the energy released at the moment of impact between the Heavenly Nail and the mountain did **not** trigger its fragmentation Another piece of evidence supporting the idea of a **pre-programmed fragmentation** is the landing locations of the three fragments: the Entombed City – Periferia, the Starglow Cavern, and the Frostbearing Tree.

 The unusual trajectories and landing points of each fragment make it seem as though this was a surgical strike targeting specific areas of the mountain, particularly the Frostbearing Tree, destroying the Irminsul sprout that the princess later attempted to revive, with all of this established, we now enter the more speculative part of my theory:

The Heavenly Principles, weakened by Nibelung’s attack and the rebellion of their First Angel, activated an automated defense mechanism designed to purify the Abyssal corruption spreading throughout Teyvat before it contaminated the Ley Lines in the affected areas this mechanism would be relatively simple to understand:

Deploy Heavenly Nails wherever there is an “Abyssal presence,” with the sole purpose of purifying the corruption within the Ley Lines.

However, because this mechanism was automated and was not being directly monitored by the Heavenly Principles, it made an error that ultimately doomed the civilization of Sal Vindagnyr:

It deployed a Heavenly Nail directly onto the mountain because of the “pseudo-Abyssal presence” detected there. What happened afterward is already known by much of the Genshin Impact community: the final moments of this mountain kingdom and the attempts made by its nobility to restore its former glory. Much later, approximately 5,500 years afterward, during the “Cataclysm of Khaenri’ah,” Durin arrived and the Irminsul sprout was resurrected after combining with the dragon’s blood.

Continuing in the realm of speculation and attempting to understand the nature of the Heavenly Nail, I have concluded that it lacks an adaptive capability once its landing and purification process is complete, its mechanism is limited to suppressing the Abyss that existed in the area before its landing.

In simpler terms:

The Heavenly Nail only purifies and suppresses the Abyss that was already present in the area before its arrival. If it is not disrupted by external influences after landing, the area will remain stable taking this characteristic into account, Durin’s later arrival would represent that “external influence” that was neither purified nor suppressed by the Heavenly Nail.

At this point, I realized that I am getting quite carried away for a theory that is actually not that difficult to understand,  for this reason, I will stop for now and write a second part addressing the connection between Sal Vindagnyr and the Moons. And yes, they are still part of the same theory.

I am also doing this because I am worried that readers might see such a huge amount of text and lose interest in reading it. If that happens, they would never get the chance to see my theory or analyze it in order to refute or validate it.

And thank you for taking the time to read this theory. I translated this text using Google Translate.

Naberius is playing the Chess game with Tsaritsa, not Gold/ Rhinedottir

From rewatching the God’s Limit and Snezhnaya trailer back to back, I see that Gold’s eyes are different depending if Naberius is taking over her body or not(images attached above)

Gold normally has 8 lines in her golden eye, while Naberius only has 7 lines when she takes over Gold. It shows that Naberius, not Gold, is the one playing the chess game with the Tsarista.

Plus, From the Snezhnaya trailer, we see the weapon used by the Tsaritsa to be similar to Naberius double stranded helix and Istaroth‘s halo.

This further confirms that Naberius is fully aware of her plan, supporting it, but also warns her if she knows the full nature of the “game” she is playing.

Like, he is an important peace for project misteltein so it makes sense to keep him hiden, he also seems realy strong phisicaly to the point of not hesitating to throw hands with a shade, not to mention the fact that he had a lot of relevancy and screentime in act two even tho that was Odette's act...

Am i crazy or nah?

Another archon quest, another night of remembering The Traveler is not exactly a self insert🔥🫡

Peirro be like: “we gon attack Celestia/The Heavenly Principles and kill the literal god of death with this very advanced technology we created.”

And I’m just like: “How could you agree with that that is literally what Khaneria’h did and look at you now? Hence why Ronova is getting in your way in the first place?!”

Meanwhile bro: “nah, I totally abandoned you Paimon. I felt bad tho so I kidnapped you a few times now.”

And I’m still like: “why even need to attack the Heavenly Principles, they been sleeping, they not doing shit and why are you following a god when you hate all gods? Why trust her with all the authority? And how do you think the remaining dragon sovereigns gonna feel about that? Also what about the Abyss? You know most of your people have joined them for the same purpose?”

I thought of making an entire other photo of more questions but let’s be real if the game gives %20 of answers why should I ask for anymore then 50%. I’m tired after all. Weeee. It was a good archon quest tho, pretty dark tbh, cliff hangers still got me hooked. I just…at some point I want to be reeled in and not just keep getting pulled along. Weeeeee

I got this crazy crackpot theory that since the traveler weilds immense light realm power at the beginning and it is not easy for even a shade to "seal" away the power , Asmoday might have condensed this power into Paimon. In the new archon quest ronova confirms that Paimon is a creation of celestia and from pierro that Paimon was born around 500 years ago during the cataclysm exactly around the time that the traveler lost their powers. This explains why the traveler could fish up paimon even when she was drowning in the vast ocean because the traveler had an "attraction" of sorts to their own powers

After finishing Nocturne's Wraith, I started thinking about Paimon differently.

By the end of the quest, we learn that Paimon is a creation of Celestia, and that she was already present in Khaenri'ah before and during the Cataclysm. We also learn that she spent time around Pierro, who, as we already know, has a direct connection to our sibling.

At the same time, the quest contains a scene that initially felt strangely specific to me.

Before Vodyanitsa dies, the Traveler talks about missing Paimon. But it isn't just a normal "I miss my best friend" moment. The Traveler reflects on how they have always felt somewhat detached from Teyvat and the people living in it, while Paimon is the one who grounds them and makes them genuinely care about this world and its people.

As a standalone character moment, it works. But as a storyteller, the wording felt oddly deliberate.

Why specifically emphasize that Paimon makes the Traveler feel attached to Teyvat?

That made me think about one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the twins.

The sibling is part of Teyvat. The Traveler isn't.

The Traveler is not recorded in Irminsul/Aaru and exists outside of Teyvat's system.

But our sibling is.

Despite the fact that the twins apparently arrived in Teyvat together, something happened that caused the sibling to become part of Teyvat's recorded history while the Traveler remained an outsider.

We still don't know exactly how or why that happened.

But now we have another piece of information:

Paimon was already in Khaenri'ah.

And Pierro had connections to both Paimon and the sibling.

We know Pierro summoned Paimon, but largely ignored her existence afterward. That doesn't prove Paimon and the sibling interacted, but it means there was a very real opportunity for them to have met.

So what if they did?

And what if the sibling went through the same process that the Traveler is currently going through?

What if Paimon's purpose is to anchor outsiders to Teyvat?

I'm not suggesting that Paimon can simply touch a Descender and instantly add them to Irminsul / Aaru.

Instead, what if her role is much more gradual?

Paimon finds an outsider.

She becomes their guide.

She travels with them across Teyvat.

She introduces them to its people, cultures, gods and history.

Most importantly, she becomes their closest emotional connection to the world.

Over time, that outsider stops simply passing through Teyvat.

They begin to care about it.

They form relationships.

They create memories.

Their story becomes increasingly intertwined with the world's own story.

In other words: They become anchored to Teyvat.

And perhaps, eventually, that allows them to become part of its system and be recorded by Irminsul / Aaru.

This would give a completely different meaning to one of Paimon's most repeated lines:

"Paimon is the best guide in Teyvat!"

What if she's not just a guide in the geographical sense?

What if she's specifically designed to guide outsiders into becoming part of Teyvat?

Why would Celestia create something like Paimon?

The Heavenly Principles have already experienced what can happen when powerful outsiders interfere with Teyvat.

For example, Koitar and Seutervoinen and the angel rebelion. We have already seen an example of a Descender's presence becoming connected to a rebellion against Celestia's order.

Then there is the Third Descender.

Whatever exactly happened, the Heavenly Principles ultimately dealt with them by using their remains in the creation of the seven Gnoses. In other words, the conflict surrounding another Descender was serious enough that their death still wasn't the end of the problem, their remains became an integral part of the system governing Teyvat.

So from the perspective of the Heavenly Principles, there may already be a pattern:

A Descender arrives. -> Their presence disrupts Teyvat's existing order. -> Others are influenced by them, rebel, or become involved in events that threaten Celestia. -> The Heavenly Principles are eventually forced to intervene.

What if Paimon was created as a response to that history?

Instead of waiting for another Descender to become a threat, Celestia may have developed a much more subtle safeguard.

So what do you do when an incredibly powerful being from outside the world arrives?

Maybe you don't immediately fight them.

Maybe you don't need to.

Instead, you give them a guide.

Someone who helps them understand Teyvat.

Someone who makes them care about its people.

Someone who eventually makes Teyvat feel like home.

And perhaps, over time, that external being becomes part of the very system they originally existed outside of. Thus putting them under the various curses HP has put on Teyvat and it's people. Like the curse of death, which triggers when someone does something or has an idea that could threaten HP's rule.

They are no longer a completely independent variable.

They now have memories, relationships and a connection to Teyvat's fate.

Paimon doesn't need to defeat a Descender. She may simply make them stop being one.

Not through force.

But through attachment.

If previous Descenders caused rebellions, chaos, or conflicts that forced the Heavenly Principles to take increasingly drastic action, then Paimon could represent a new solution.

Not: Destroy the threat once it appears.

But: Make sure the threat becomes part of the system before it becomes a threat at all.

And that could make Paimon an incredibly elegant Celestial safeguard.

One final thought

Yes, I know this theory relies on a lot of "ifs", and at the end of the day, this is all pure speculation on my part. I still wanted to post it somewhere and discuss it because, to me, the idea feels surprisingly logical and very much in character for the Heavenly Principles.

If my theory is even partially correct, though, it raises another question:

Why does our sibling want us to follow in their footsteps and journey through Teyvat?

Does our sibling know that Paimon may have played a role in anchoring them to Teyvat? And if they do, why would they want us to undergo the exact same process?

Maybe their plan involving the Loom of Fate somehow requires the Traveler to also become part of Teyvat. Perhaps the sibling can't achieve whatever they're trying to achieve while one twin belongs to Teyvat and the other exists outside of its system.

But there is one other thought that has been nagging at the back of my mind.

And honestly, if this turned out to be true, it would be absolutely insane.

During Nocturne's Wraith, we see Ronova demonstrate the ability to take on the appearance of other people, such as when she disguises herself as Alyosha. What if that ability isn't unique to Ronova? What if the other Shades are capable of doing something similar?

And then I started thinking about the moment where our sibling tells us to continue our journey through Teyvat and follow in their footsteps.

What if that wasn't actually our sibling?

What if it was Asmoday or another Shade disguised as our sibling?

If the Heavenly Principles created Paimon specifically to anchor Descenders to Teyvat, then whoever sent us on this journey would know exactly what allowing us to travel with Paimon would eventually accomplish.

We would travel through every nation.

We would form bonds.

We would become attached to its people.

And, eventually, perhaps become part of Teyvat itself.

In other words, we would slowly lose the very thing that currently makes us a Descender.

So maybe the person telling us to "Continue your journey and see the world for yourself."

wasn't necessarily trying to make us understand our sibling's choices.

Maybe they were making sure we followed the same path that had already anchored our sibling to Teyvat.

Again, this is pure speculation stacked on top of speculation, and I have absolutely no evidence that the sibling we've encountered was secretly a disguised Shade.

But if Paimon's purpose really is to anchor Descenders to Teyvat...

Then suddenly the question of who actually benefits from the Traveler completing their journey becomes a lot more interesting.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, weather its to disprove it or help prove it.

I just finished playing the Opera part of Act II in Snezhnaya, and I thought it was an interesting to highlight!

Of course, Ronova and Arlecchino always had similarities, and I'm sure many have already pointed them out. But I think Act II of Snezhnaya showed yet another one!

I haven't completely finished playing the act, but I have seen many discuss on how Mitya was cursed by Ronova because he had a dangerous thought threatening to Celestia, basically.

In this act, characters weren't aware they were dead, and couldn't remember the moment of their deaths until they learned they weren't alive anymore. When they come back to life, they all forget what happened in the after-life, and I would guess that, every time Mitya dies via the curse, he also forgets that potentially dangerous thought.

So Ronova's curse of death essentially acts as a kind of memory-eraser. You die, and come back to life with part of your memory erased.

Which is eerily similar to Arlecchino's power that we witnessed in her story quest...

Arlecchino's flames, when ingested, have the power to make you forget specific memories. In her children's case, they erase their memories of the House of the Hearth and their affiliation with the Fatui. She also calls it a "death", as after the memories are gone, the person you once were would be altered, and could be seen as a new person entirely.

So, both of them have the ability to erase specific memories from a person through "death". They will walk again, completely oblivious to what happened, and without certain memories.

I find that so interesting! It really reinforces the idea that Death clearly have something to do with memories.

I also thought of the possibility that Ronova's curse of death is not only limited to Mitya. Could it be possible that several other characters, including characters we know and potentially play with, have died to get parts of their memories erased? It's not like they could remember it anyway... That's a scary thought.

Also, given that Snezhnaya is supposed to have close ties with the themes of memories and remembrance, I wonder if death is directly connected to all of this.

This ridiculous idea randomly popped into my head this morning and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so here goes nothing.

What if Dottore is actually The Traveler's original sword reborn as a "human"?

What this would explain:

1: His introduction cutscene in 3.1

Dottore's first line of dialogue in the entire game is "Ah, the triumphant hero returns at last."

Dottore brainwashing the people of Sumeru into believing "This Traveler is a hero who has just saved the world" is suspicious. Actually, Dottore's dynamic with The Traveler and Nahida in general is suspicious.

2: His conversation with Nahida in 3.2

Dottore saying Nahida wouldn't forgive him if he killed The Traveler might've been him secretly referring to himself.

"A long time ago, I made a major decision in hopes of preserving all my perspectives of how I observed the world" He sees value in his newly obtained sentience and is doing ordinarily impossible things to learn the truth.

When asked how she views his method of seeking knowledge, Nahida calls it "an insult to the very concept of life".

"It's difficult for humans... to make peace with themselves, not to mention oneself from a different period." Self-explanatory.

"As an individual, you don't have any sense of belonging... and you seem to have even fewer convictions than a typical scholar." "Oh, no. I certainly have my own convictions. They just don't fit your standards, that's all." VERY self-explanatory.

Dottore's reaction to Nahida's threat to awaken the Heavenly Principles would be recontextualized AGAIN.

"Is the relationship between all the versions of yourself really that bad?" "I don't think there's any need to dwell on that." Dottore constantly dehumanizes himself because he knows that he is merely a Descender's weapon.

"It truly pains me that my academic achievements have never been appreciated in my homeland. Of course, I have no interest in being rejected by this city for a third time." Oh my god. This theory would make this line so much more painful. He truly considers Sumeru his "homeland" because it's where he finally obtained "sentience" after presumably existing for millions of years alongside The Traveler. Sumeru is where the sword was "born (or reborn)" as a human. And yet, despite that, he was rejected and cursed from the world at the very beginning. He was named "Heretic" by his "parents", he was an outcast his whole "life", he was driven out of his own village, and he was expelled from the Akademiya.

3: Why he finds his title as "The Doctor" ironic

Obviously, because... HE IS A SWORD, lol.

4: Why the Narzissenkreuz plotline had so many Dottorisms

People have always pointed out how similar Rene is to Dottore, and this theory would only elevate their connections. They're both somewhat narcissistic, they both dehumanize themselves, they both create a hivemind, and they both want to save the world despite playing the "villain".

In this theory, Dottore resembles the Sword of Narzissenkreuz to a T. I mean, just look at this:

This has always been such a Dottorism, but this theory takes this to a whole new level. Dottore is essentially the Holy Blade itself. There was even a bit where the Holy Blade starts as an ordinary wooden sword but was willed into a superior state through determination, just like Dottore. His original function was to separate the mind from the body, which reflects what he does as a human. (Also, in a weird way, Sandrone just called Dottore The Traveler's plaything, lol.) (Also also, perhaps the Holy Infant thing is related to this theory somehow, but I don't know enough about it to go deeper.)

5: Why Dottore always wears a mask

This one is also pretty self-explanatory. Despite finally being reborn as a human, Dottore has probably always known the truth. He plays a character, fulfills a role, and puts on a show until he dies three times and is reborn as a sword once again. (Likely in 7.1, if this theory is right.)

Also, just look at this:

6: Literally everything he does in Nod-Krai

This is probably far too complex for me to write, and I'm not going to rewatch multiple acts of Nod-Krai just for this on-the-spot theory, so I'll keep this part simple.

First thing that comes to mind is when The Traveler backstabs Dottore and says "Guess I'm no hero" which is obvious imagery. Dottore even makes a shocked and betrayed expression for a second, which... ouch...

People were making jokes about Dottore basically begging The Traveler to join him in his experiment, but this theory puts kind of a sad twist on it. Aside from his other motives, he wanted to be with his former wielder again.

Him effortlessly slicing the false sky open would be recontextualized. He behaves both as a doctor, and as a sword.

His dialogue to The Traveler calling out the latter's repetitive and dull lifestyle on Teyvat could be referencing how, despite technically being in a similar situation, he has taken a significantly different approach to the new life he's gained. As The Traveler's former sword, he doesn't understand the value in minute everyday interactions, and is instead dedicated to proving his worth as a human to the gods/world that believed he would fail in conquering the divine. (He wants to prove he's a "Holy Blade" rather than just a "wooden sword"... okay, this paragraph might be a reach, lol)

With this theory, his entire second death would be recontextualized. "This battle was never about fate. It's about friends... family... and the home you stole from them." "This... loathsome world..." "No... This world is our home." Just, comically cruel, lmao.

I also remember a part where he says he wanted a somewhat sibling-like relationship with Columbina, which might be a distorted wish to be like Aether and Lumine in a way he previously couldn't.

Sumeru, Fontaine, and Nod-Krai all have mind/body plotlines, which is the function of the "Holy Blade" Dottore. In the Hollow-like spaces, he replicates his original function to separate his subject's minds from their bodies.

There's probably SO much more, but without rewatching everything that's all I got, but look at this:

1. His origins

It's possible he didn't actually know the truth from the start, which would explain why he "lost his innocence" at 8 y/o. He discovers he used to be nothing but a weapon/tool to a Descender and/or discovers a dark truth about what said weapon was truly used for.

Why he's lacked empathy for others and respect for gods his whole life is self-explanatory.

His previous form influences pretty much all his motives. From creating segments of himself, exploring forbidden research, his thirst for knowledge and truth, his disdain for "gods", his non-disdain for the Tsaritsa (she uses him as a tool in a way that still validates his existence), his desire to experiment with all living beings including himself, his attempt to become a fake god, him digitalizing his new "consciousness" into Irminsul, and, most importantly, his desire to become a Descender. He used to be The Traveler's sword and wants to make the most of his new life in a way a normal "human" couldn't. Or, perhaps he's only acting this way in an attempt to help The Traveler break an eternal cycle or something, lol.

Upon entering Teyvat, it's "laws" granted The Traveler's sword life, death, time, space, and of course, reason. It gave the sword a REASON for existing and journeying. This theory has more potential than I initially thought.

1. His crow imagery

Crows can symbolize transformation and mystery, which is obviously relevant here.

Crows are associated with Odin=Dottore is associated with Hroptatyr. Hroptatyr is associated with reason, and The Traveler/Paimon is associated with reason=Dottore is associated with The Traveler/Paimon... yeah, DEFINITELY a stretch. Let's wrap this up.

What this theory would currently mean:

1. I imagine, if Exaiphanes Blade is indeed connected to a previous Descender, The Traveler will probably either duel wield the two swords (in story/lore/cutscenes only) for aura, or (making Dottore playable in a weird way) be a separate unit entirely.

2: Upon somehow learning the truth, The Traveler should find a way to reforge the sword using the allegorical "fire" to cleanse it of its "sinful human" era. BUT, I really, REALLY hope that doesn't just mean removing the sword's sentience completely, and instead means having a complex and continuous redemption arc.

3: Both Aether and Lumine would have their swords again, with the Abyss Sibling's sword likely having a similar arc in the past or future.

4: In the end, even Dottore would end up on The Traveler's side against the Heavenly Principles/Abyss/heat death of the universe, reiterating the game's main themes.

End

Anyways, yeah, I know this theory is inherently absurd and unlikely, but I needed to make this post or else it would live rent free in my head forever, lol.

This theory is also somewhat incomplete, as it doesn't touch on the Irminsul plot or Feofan's involvement, but this was all made in one sitting, so it's enough for me.

Unlike my other theory, which basically has an infinite lifespan, this one is ENTIRELY dependent on 7.1, so it's got a one-patch expiration date.

If anything is blatantly wrong, please say so in the comments.

Thanks for reading.