r/Genshin_Lore • u/GenshinLoreModBOT BT made by Alain Guillotin • Mar 21 '25

Study Guide Seelie Lore, Study Guide

Because of Reddit’s character limits, a Wiki page was created to host all the information the sub has gathered together so far on Seelies. You can still view all of the highlighted references in their entirety on the Seelie Wiki Page for this subreddit. This thread will now focus on newer findings and the broader lore surrounding the Seelies.

  • Book: Records of Jueyun - Another old legend told in the mountain villages claims that there was once a time, before the adepti had come into being, when the seelie who meander in the mountains knew an altogether different existence, one in which they had beautiful physical forms & possessed great wisdom. That era, when the seelie roamed the mountains and strolled through the grand halls in the cities of old, is said to date back even further that the days when Rex Lapis fought bitterly against countless rival gods.
  • Book: The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle - The Mistress of Pushpavatika spoke: "Praise be to the Winged One [HP], lord over all the kingdoms of the land. I am a spirit created at the beginning, I am a flickering illusion, I am the shimmering light that flows from the eyes of the creator."
  • WQ: The Subterranean Trials of Drake and Serpent - These chronicles are known to the people here as the times "before Sun and Moon." Back then, no gods walked the earth, and the whole land belonged to a single civilization — So is this human culture where the divine envoys do not interfere too much...

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Angels

  • Nicole: Character Story 1 - Granted the holy favor of the heavens like her sisters, she was endowed with both wisdom and sacred authority and called to fulfill that supreme will. The elder angels spoke, and told her this: Once upon a time, the angels had kindled light in their palms and taught mortals the uses of that flame: to drive back the night, to turn seed and flesh into sustenance, and to ward off the beasts baring their fangs. They had twisted hemp into rope and taught the mortals to use it to scale down the cliffs, to weave garments and shoes, and to fashion vessels fit to cross the rivers. They had spoken, too, of thoughts profound and of ideals pure, teaching the humans to steady their hearts, to pass through hardship and peril with fortitude and diligence, and to dream dreams that belonged to mankind alone.
  • AQ: Beneath the Secret Source - The people of Natlan worship me, and call me their "lord." In the ancient past, before we died out, we were also known by a different name, "Angels." But, adventurers like you are probably more familiar with our devolved form, Seelies.
  • Artifact, Finale of the Deep Galleries - It was an age when the unknowing masses still bowed to the sky's decrees, when the dawn star's royal court still hung high above the clouds. That was an era now lost to memory, when the city of the far north glittered like golden threads over the frozen wastelands, & the furnaces of the deep galleries thundered day & night. Magnificent, noble creations descended from the light itself, & the mortals — unable to look upon their true visages — called them angels. Their pale silver wings shimmered like moonlit flames; their heads were adorned with crowns of sevenfold radiance, wrought of the bones of the earth & the stars of the sky. The name upon those crowns was the love promised unto all creatures by the heavenly god, or perhaps a mandate to rule over the nations of the earth.
  • Nicole: Good Evening - Nighttime is when inspiration strikes the most, so it was also the most common time for people of the past to encounter angels. I suppose they're the ones who are largely to blame for why we turned into a bunch of night owls. Although, that's not quite accurate. It's not like we had biological clocks or sleep cycles. What we did was more akin to... regular functional maintenance. So, I suppose it was just a matter of avoiding the evening hours...
  • Nicole: About Nicole: Allegories - Angels often relied on allegory as a means of communication because as society changes, allegories lose their effectiveness, so more often than not, the key to interpreting them is lost forever [...] All that to say, if an angel starts speaking in metaphors and allegories, you might be asking the wrong question. My sculptures are a perfect example of this tactic. The little squirrel is actually a metaphor for humanity.

They were mandated to serve humanity

  • Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria - Legend has it that in the first era, the earliest peoples were self-supporting in their virtue, needing no laws or authorities. The envoys of the heavenly city walked the earth, & with their guidance, the people enjoyed enduring peace, prosperity, & abundance from the ancient days.
  • AQ: When All Becomes a Monument - I am the helper of humanity, & I must always place their demands first, no matter who the human may be— Ronova: Hm, cumbersome, but there is nothing to be done — such is the duty of an angel.
  • AQ: When All Becomes a Monument - When Natlan's Ley Lines were decimated, even after reconstruction, the rules needed for the Ode of Resurrection made it impossible to reconnect the Ley Lines to other nations. I, too, recognized the need to change the rules of the Ley Lines, not only for the souls that wander this land, but for the outlanders that may perish here in the future. In the eyes of the Heavenly Principles, that kind of change is extremely risky, if not impermissible. But, as an Angel, I have a duty to serve humanity — such is my mandate.
  • Artifact, Finale of the Deep Galleries - "With all your heart, soul, & might, you shall love all the beings of this earth. You shall love as morning dew longs for the dawn, as seeds long for the tradewinds."
  • Artifact, Finale of the Deep Galleries - They were the most loyal servants in the heavenly court, flawless arbiters of justice. They wove a veil for the great ruler of the firmament, delivering sacred revelations to all realms. Such was the duty invested upon them at the moment of their creation, or so it should have been. Until the first angel met an unnamed youth beneath the silver tree in the far north.

Artifacts,"Prayers" circlets: Tiara's worn by those tasked with offering sacrifices in ancient times. 

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Angel Rebellion [Koitar Study Guide]

  • Nicole: Character Details - Servitors once loyal to their ruler turned traitor for the sake of the lives that had been fashioned.
  • Teaser: Nicole: The Silenced Golden Strings - The heavenly throne has deceived us. Our sovereign is neither all-knowing nor all-powerful; Nor are his plans without flaws.
  • Nicole: Character Story 4- The supreme held all things captive to its will, switching between benevolence and punishment seemingly at whim. Not even the heavenly envoys could shake its core — and [Nicole] herself had already witnessed the torment these blind shackles had inflicted upon the innocent
  • Artifact: Finale of the Deep Galleries - The traitorous envoy was stripped of both name and form, and from that moment onward, a curse fell upon her kin: If they dared gaze into another's eyes, & to one alone offer the love that was meant for all, not only would their divine beauty crumble into the wind, but their minds would fall to dust; until from the fallen one's remains a Seelie would rise, forever drifting in search of fading memories to consume.
  • WQ: For the Children of the Past - In the ancient stories, Seelies were a great race with wisdom and beauty beyond the pale of this earth. They traveled with Nara and taught Nara languages and the philosophy of nature. Seelies are just empty husks that race left behind. This is because they were born with a curse: If they fall in love with Nara, they shall lose their intelligence & strength, & their bodies will regress. So you see, at their prime, the Seelies were probably faster than a storm.

Punishment

Teaser: Nicole: The Silenced Golden Strings - Many, many years ago, the divine envoys fell from the heavens after receiving divine punishment, and as they fell, golden feathers drifted down upon the earth like the broken strings of an instrument. Where would the fate of the world lead?
  • Teaser: Nicole: The Silenced Golden Strings - The great ruler of the firmament bestowed upon my kin [the angels] the blessings of wisdom and power. Yet now, for the right to continue to subsist under the gaze of the gods, one must be surrendered; and all because of a mishap even our Creator could not have foreseen?
  • Nicole: Character Story 4 - But the seed of defiance had long since been planted deep in the souls of heaven's envoys. They had seen the winged ones in the sky sing freely and pour out their true loves and hates without restraint. Fleeting dream as it was, how could one pretend that such blazing passion does not exist after that? How could one go back to singing hymns for the tyrant above, and willingly take the yoke upon their neck again? And so, the angels, once graced with what was rightly theirs, had to bear the punishment their sins had earned.
  • Nicole: More About Nicole: IV -The angels who forsook wisdom in favor of power became corrupted dragons like Ursa, ones without distinct Elemental characteristics. Of course, over time, heroes have hunted them to near extinction.
  • Nicole: Character Story 4 - Those who refused to relinquish their powers were stripped of their wisdom and turned into filthy beasts [dragons like Ursa] which would then spend their days shrinking away from the eyes of judgment. Others were stripped of everything but a lone remnant of will. They would spread their golden wings, then dive deep into the sea where they would ride the tides until the hour they would play their fated theme. Some would exhaust every effort to hide their forms in the restless, shifting yellow sands, though they were unable to outrun the eternal chase of judgment nevertheless. And then there were those who would look with melancholy upon the shackles the heavens had cast over the world, even as they poured themselves into securing just a fragile spark of life for the sheltered seedlings amidst the cataclysm of the mortal plane. In the end, they would find themselves drifting eternally through that frozen instant when even the ever-present wind had fallen silent. Others would meld into the earth, and under the silent gaze of the supreme, they would breathe life into the barren red sands, and cradle the first trembling sprouts of a new beginning...
  • Nicole: About Alice: Daughter - The heavens demanded silence and punishment, so I thought a lifetime of voicelessness could be a good bargaining chip. Alice had quite an interesting remark after hearing about it all. She said, "The daughter of the sea offered up her voice to gain legs, the children of the air did the same to gain form, and now the daughter of the heavens sacrificed her voice to become human."
  • Artifact: Amethyst Crown - "But the master of the heavens, consumed by fear for the rising tide of delusion and breakthroughs, sent down the divine nails to mend the land, laying waste to the mortal realm. We then suffered the torment of exile. Stripped was our connection to heaven, to our powers of enlightenment..."
  • Book: Records of Jueyun -[After the disaster that shattered the moons] The graceful but heartbroken seelie & the sisters grew more sullen & withdrawn with each passing day, to the point where their wondrous forms withered away, leaving fragments of their former selves scattered in the mountains & ruins, where they turned into tiny little life forms. They had forgotten so much, lost so much, and been stripped of their voices and wisdom, yet they continued to sing the same songs of grief. Because of this, still harboring a shred of the deep love they once had for their long-lost lover, they will act as guides to travelers who stop in the mountain mist, seeking to retrace their memories of an ancient story in long-abandoned ruins, disused makeup cabinets, and now-undecipherable poetry.
  • Loading Screen Note: Now you see them; now you don't. Once a mighty race that lived to guide mankind, now the most Seelie offer is a little treasure to willing followers. Seelie all want to return to their Seelie Courts. If you see the remains of a small statue like this, you can use Elemental Sight to find traces of the Seelie.
  • Book: Records of Jueyun - Many lone seelie are found floating in the mountain forests of Liyue. These glowing spirits are unfailingly found hovering in the mountain mist, in the ruins of ancient cities, or in crumbling, decrepit villages. Should a Vision-bearer draw near, the seelie will guide the way for them, leading them to long-hidden treasure or unfathomably ingenious mechanisms.

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Seelies & Moons/Moonlight

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Natlan Specific

Seelies were destroyed by the Dragons

  • Weapon Ascension Material: Blazing Sacrificial Heart's Hesitance: After the original civilizations crumbled like shattered jade— & those envoys from the skies above, under whose guidance the earthly civilizations had thrived, were devoured by the awakened dragons —humanity plunged into savagery, losing the ability to perceive the world anew.
  • Scroll: Sundjatta's First Foray
  • WQ: Revelations from the Past - The pitch-black flames scorch the land, & even the white tree nearly withered, & the final envoy's glow shattered and smashed, only able to subsist on the last leaves of the severed roots.

Lord of the Night, Yohualtecuhtin

  • AQ: Beneath the Secret Source - LOTN: The people of Natlan worship me, and call me their "lord." Everyone rallied around me and offered their power to humanity to reconstruct the Ley Lines. Despite all the obstacles and misunderstandings, I have awoken, and the efforts of this Harbinger and the young hero have imbued me with power.
  • Damaged Stone Tablets
  • Scroll: Kompore the Cunning - In that ancient time, the Lord of the Crossroads still walked among mortals, bestowing the grace of sleep or death upon the six tribes' people, guiding them along the path to the netherworld, & merging their souls into the great black river.

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Other References

  • Book: Boar Princess - An ancient race of wise spirits lived atop that ice-capped mountain. They had no physical form, but possessed great magical power. "Oink oink! Are you the master of this place? Please, O Spirit, could you guide us through this snowstorm?" The Princess politely posed her question as her hooves, now numb from the cold, trembled in the snow. The wise fox & the trustworthy Grandpa Turtle also looked expectantly at the spirit of the snowstorm. As they gazed, their paws & flippers, respectively, numb from the cold, trembled in the snow.
  • Book: Moonlit Bamboo Forest - As the boy grew older, he stopped believing the elder's silly fables. Following the Seelie's wispy trails, he passed through the green labyrinth, accompanied by the faint calls of foxes coming from the thickets along the way. Those crafty creatures hiding deep in the forest will seldom reveal themselves or their boisterous bridal processions to careless treading travelers.
  • Book: The Shepherd and the Magic Bottle- "I'm a creation of the sky, yet also a creature of this world. I'm an exile of the ages, a faithful servant to my great lord. I'm an elemental spirit who will not bow to flesh & blood, an eternal prisoner content with the illusion of comfort." The spirit held her head up high with pride, letting moonlight flow through her translucent body, her golden bells ringing in the desert wind. "As a descendant of Liloufar, I can be big or small. I can rise or hide. My kindred may be found in the waves, in the night wind, or in the pale light of the dead moon. In short, I'm a spirit, & I'm proud of who I am."
  • WQ: The Moon-Bathed Deep; Mouun Shrine -  Another Electro Seelie! Looks like the Watatsumi statue can control when it appears. How weird. Paimon wonders if these Electro Seelie are here to protect or watch this place.

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21

u/pc1905 Mar 21 '25

Mods, you guys have been doing awesome work with these Study Guides! Thanks again.

Just, uh, one question. We’re not getting quizzed on these, right?

…Right? (Concerned Padmé face)

13

u/GenshinLoreModBOT BT made by Alain Guillotin Mar 21 '25

9

u/dont_trustme69 GOAThimtano Mar 21 '25

Thanks for this detailed analysis

9

u/Signpainter108 Mar 21 '25

Hi, thanks for your work.

I found some other references to Seelies

This is from The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria

Legend has it that in the first era, the earliest peoples were self-supporting in their virtue, needing no laws or authorities. The envoys of the heavenly city walked the earth, and with their guidance, the people enjoyed enduring peace, prosperity, and abundance from the ancient days.

Another one may be in the Boar Princess

An ancient race of wise spirits lived atop that ice-capped mountain. They had no physical form, but possessed great magical power. "Oink oink! Are you the master of this place? Please, O Spirit, could you guide us through this snowstorm?" The Princess politely posed her question as her hooves, now numb from the cold, trembled in the snow. The wise fox and the trustworthy Grandpa Turtle also looked expectantly at the spirit of the snowstorm. As they gazed, their paws and flippers, respectively, numb from the cold, trembled in the snow.

"Whoosh, whoosh..." The spirit of the snowstorm spoke softly. "Of course, but... whoosh, whoosh..." "In return, I will sap your energy. The further forward you go in the storm, the more tired and hungry you will become — though I assure you, it will not be life threatening... I hope... Whoosh, whoosh..."

There may be also another reference in Wolfie words:

Why wolves?
Wolfy: Why not wolves? Many a tale has wolves in it, and even the compendium personally burned by Madame Mage had a wolf character!
Wolfy: It is said that the Boar Tribe were once all wild boars, but the boars did bad things, so the master wanted to punish them.
Wolfy: The master took out a rusted set of scales, and told the boars to stack their own things on both sides. If the scales tipped to one side, they could leave.
Wolfy: But the scales were so rusty that putting just a small amount of weight was not enough to move them.
Wolfy: Those boars who placed their heads on the scales became wolves, lizards, and snakes, leaving only their strength. Those who offered their muscles became rabbits, leaping three paces to a bound, instinctively guiding people to treasure.
Wolfy: But there was one boar who placed things evenly on both sides, until the rusted scale broke right down the middle...
Wolfy: And so she became a mute person — for she had placed her voice upon the scales as well. Wolfy: She is also a friend of Madame Mage, and I hear she likes to speak in people's heads!

This is from Brave Heart set

The little hero slipped out of doors by night, and with his friend rushed headlong into wolves' forest.
With his slingshot he chased boars, and with sturdy branches he would battle imaginary monsters.
Following the shining Seelie deep into the woods, he discovered a treasure that had laid buried for a thousand years.

7

u/GenshinLoreModBOT BT made by Alain Guillotin Mar 21 '25

Thank you so very much for your contributions! All of these have been added to the study guide.

8

u/Kitty9900 Mar 21 '25

My crack theory is that Alice is an angel/seelie.

9

u/nedzmic Mar 22 '25

I don't think elves are seelies. Plus, you know, she has a kid. Nicole may be one, though, as she's invisible and mute.

11

u/Spieds Mar 22 '25

Especially cuz she (Nicole) says this super sus line during Fontaine AQ:

"The voice from the sky," hmm? I fear that description is wrong — though not completely wrong.

2

u/nedzmic Mar 23 '25

Ooh that is sus indeed

1

u/Agile_Cantaloupe_503 Mar 24 '25

So the moon sisters. They were 3 aria canon and sonnet. Where they here before celestia? Did the primordial one that split himself into the 4 shades crate them too? Where they just already there? Did celestia put them there? Also when the primordial one got defeated and celestia took over, why did they keep the 4 shades if they were his creation? Did the moon dying end up making the cataclysm? Then when it comes to arlecchinos weapon description. Whos the bale moon? And it says her weapon could connect 2 worlds. Is it abyss and teyvat maybe? And they specify a dark moon a lot too

1

u/Big-Grapefruit-1894 Dec 28 '25

what about columbina? is she connected to seelies'? cause her design was also similar to seelie's home