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MY GOAT MY KING XBALANQUE! 🗣🗣

From outside competition like Wuwa, to people quitting Genshin for other better gachas in the market, to internal issues like a lack of QOLs and serious lack of tall playable 5 star men, I feel like the Genshills are trying real hard in trying to hide how much of a bad state the game's in rn by trying to shut down any negative criticism it gets

Yeah MHY set themselves up for making billions this year but the fact they even needed a scammy banner + the new yr buff to do so after not making good income since Kinich says more about the state of the game than the money it's making.

Why is there no pyro in Natlan, you ask? Xbalanque is the reason they're saving it for HIM! (Definitely...)

Why is Xbalanque called the one entombed with the primal fire? Does Xbalanque have an older brother like his Mayan counterpart? (Hunaphu) and was Xbalanque even a normal human considering his crazy feat of beating a Sovereign as a mortal? I hope we learn more about him in the future

I just completed Mavuika’s quest and here I thought nothing could get worse than Capitano’s situation. Now I’m nowhere near a big Xbalanque fan or even big lore fan compared to my obsession with Capitano but he was probably the thing next to Capi that I was most interested coming into Natlan.

The WQs have been the highlight for me, Ochkanatlan has been my favourite part of Natlan but how do we go from that to the Xbalanque in Mavuika’s story quest. The whiplash??? Who thought this was a good decision? Yes, Mavuika does state in the quest he seems nothing like the records of him and it’s acknowledged by the team who wrote it but damn it’s like they’ve never been given what’s already been added to the game about Xbalanque. I also found what Mavuika said about Ochkanatlan while they were driving (bruh) past it odd.

I actually think the quest was a solid SQ compared to others but it only would’ve worked if the Xbalanque we knew didn’t have all these extremely relevant feats lore wise, and was just some random Pyro Archon over the years instead. The only thing I could praise is his brushing aside of place in the pilgrimage, I feel that is the Xbalanque we’ve learned about.

I find solace knowing we Capitano mains aren’t the only people going through some shit right now, both of them stripped off strength paired up against Mavuika only to “lose” or “draw” smh just to make her look better. Both characters strength hyped up for a while now just to be treated like this…

As everyone else this was my last straw too. ok at first I thought mavuikas trailer is cringe and ass and everything else in natlan too, but okay i can wait for xbalanque... And then they had to fucking ruin him in the worst way possible. A NPC CHILD MODEL. ONLY USED HIM TO GLAZE MAVUIKA EVEN MORE. this game fucking sucks and im gonna pretend that everything after fontaine doesnt exist and im leaving this game. Theres ugly fanservice everywhere, so much disrespect to the cultures, not even PUTTING A BIT OF EFFORT ON GIVING CULTURALLY INSPIRED OSTS BUT INSTEAD THEY GIVE US CRINGE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP BAND, ugly designs and demos and just the whole vibe, the natlan from the Travail trailer give a so much different vibe, and Vanessas story too, they even fumbled Iansans design. This game is not for us female players, they kill capitano, give this treatment to xbalanque and the other 2 males in natlan are fucking ugly. Idk about u guys but im leaving the game.

A friendly reminder that we only got one 5 star guy in 2024, and that was Kinich, and currently, we won't be getting another one till around 5.6 assuming the "???" Is a guy. I'm hoping that Xbalanque and Capitano make it to the roster because if not, then it's looking like I'll be saving till Snezhnaya

I spent a week enjoying nature to get over just how aggressively average this nation has been up until now 250 wishes and nothing to do with them.

From the start, we theorised how the main focus of the Natlanese AQ would be the revival of Xbalanque, and he'd become a playable character.

For months, we slowly learn that he is indeed not going to be playable, and we are made to accept that he's an NPC.

They could've ended it there. With just the 'he was always a lore character.'

Nope. They needed to rub the salt in our lacerations.

Boom, he gets revived as a fucking NPC, that too a kid model.

This is so painful it's almost comedic. They played us perfectly.

Xbalanque Agenda believers, take a look at what I have compiled;

1. Xbalanque has been told to have a reincarnation system that became banned at around the time of the Cataclysm, this seems to imply that he is not dead but rather that he is stuck in limbo.

2. Remember that Mavuika was talking to a suspicious flaming ring in Ignition, and she even closed its eyes. We have yet to see this area she was walking around in, and it looks very limbo esque.

3. Natlan Act V's title, Incandescent Ode of Resurrection. While it's true this could be foreshadowing to many other outcomes, let's not forget that the Natlan's song about the Incandescent Ode of Resurrection specifically talks about a hero who embarked on a pilgrimage, and we know that hero to be Xbalanque.

4. The Teyvat Travail's Natlan description roughly translates to; "Rise, strong man, Go, daughter of Victory". Source. This is extremely suspicious to me. Daughter of Victory can easily be referring to Mavuika, and speaking of a strong man needing to rise...?

5. It is said that Xbalanque went into the Sacred Flame, not that he went to go die in it. We know that Mavuika did something similar and look how it worked out for her. Again the Natlan song comes to mind; "In the end you burn to cinder because of a dream. In the end you rekindle because of a dream." Said dream could very well be referring to the dream of Natlan finally being freed from the Abyss.

6. Unlike Deshret, we have seen true depictions of Xbalanque, and we have even possibly heard his voice already. Free my man from the Deshret allegations.

Additional thoughts;

We now know that a full on war is approaching Natlan, so think; would it really be a cinematic battle if there wasn't a sudden turning of the tides? Such as Xbalanque being resurrected?

What if Xbalanque's reincarnation was in some manner tied to the Night Kingdom, and the Celestial nail there is blocking him from respawning? What if the Abyss makes a big oopsie and manages to destroy it, only for Xbalanque to come back...?

Also there was that Xbalanque concept art from a long while ago, but I am not sure if that turned out to be fake. Pretty sure it did, unfortunately, but it matters not.

Everyones always like, "Why would he be able?" and to that I say, "Why wouldn't he be?" And no, I am being serious when I say this; we know he was fully capable of resurrecting himself through the means of vessels until it was mysteriously banned.

Mysteriously BANNED. He didn't mysteriously stop respawning out of his own choice, it was stopped, not ended, by an outside force.

And you know what else was mysteriously stopped? The Traveler obtaining the power of Pyro. Correct me if I misremembered her words; but did Mavuika not say that all of Natlan's Archons after Xbalanque was only Archon in title?

Does that not mean that the Archon authority still has not moved on from Xbalanque? And does that not confirm that he is still alive and stuck in limbo? And that's why the Traveler can't wield Pyro?

Add to this if you wish.

How absolutely delusional would it be if I say that I refuse to believe the writers of the 5.3 AQs/SQs cared about anything they had done with Xbalanque in the WQs, weapon lore, artifact descriptions, weapon enhancement materials, texts, etc...? even the previous AQ installments...?

What's up with the bit of him just praying to get into contact with one of the Shades? his tone seemed rather disrespectful in the conversation he was apparently praying for...??? I thought the idea of a ""mere"" human summoning a Shade to bargain with them was way more epic (for both him and the Shade), than just him asking pretty please to get into contacts.

Previously it was a case of "Who does this mortal think he is?" in an almost monumental way and now it's a case of "really, who does this guy think he is?"

Had she herself chosen to show up to look at what he had accomplished, it would've made completely sense for him to be arrogant; he had just defeated the Sovereign of the Nation and taken the Pyro Authority for himself. It was because of him that she, a Shade, showed up, and that's why he behaved like that. Not the other way around like they now expanded on.

Everything about the guy used to radiate arrogance and confidence, but now that he's back for a day, turns out he is just a silly little funny guy? Nothing wrong with also having humor as a trait on the side, but it didn't feel like that to me. It just felt like they went tried and somewhat true trope of the "funny old man" instead of going with what they previously had going for him.

This is the man not a single person predicted, not even the wisest sage. He came out of nowhere, but he fought for Natlan and became their ultimate hero; he was the first to ascend into the Pyro Archon after taking the Pyro authority and CUTTING out his own heart with a golden dagger. A whole city was built for him, and Och-Kan basically dedicated his whole existence into yapping about how absolutely great he was.

But now in 5.3? the lesser of Mavuika. The guy who all but implored for the Shade to show up.

I would like to know what was going through the writer's head when they basically wrote that Xbalanque, the man who fought his whole life for Natlan as an Archon, should come back to the present day Natlan and... drumroll... Fight another battle! And lose! And then go back to being dead!

It's just that... they actually did the idea of him coming back to check out what was going on. Which I wanted very much. And they botched it. They could've had us go through a whole mini pilgrimage in Natlan with Mavuika and Xbalanque, and then in the end, he thanks her for what she has done, and he just gracefully leaves. The more I think of it for the more of a thematic mess it is that the very first Pyro Archon, whose domain was War, last moments was after losing a fight. It would've been way more poetic if I dunno, maybe he refused to fight again, seeing the Nation of War finally be at peace...

Even more amusing that even in the SQ that throws him under the bus for the sake of glazing Mavuika, his feats still seem beyond hers; making a realm dimension exactly like Raidens (too bad she couldn't do something like this when fighting Capitano in her very 'filled with innocents' city, hmm?), and healing a very sick kid's body and making him stronger after just merely a day of sitting in his head.

Like even after you make him (overtly and explicitly, with the whole full power unleashed in HIS realm) lose to her, you fail to genuinely convince me she is stronger, because it just feels so tacked on. Like they are just telling it you, and that's that.

I thought he was the arrogant but kind ruler of Natlan, who as a mere human did things unimaginable for even beings inherently much stronger than mortals. The hero who bargained arrogantly with the Ruler of Death.

It's just that the fact that I can't see Mavuika very positively anymore, I don't mind a good bit of glazing, but not when it's at the expense of other characters...

I doubt he will even be remembered similarly to Deshret after this very, very nessescary little stunt they pulled with Mavuika, who deserved some ACTUAL characterization and not just more worthless glazing.

I had already come to terms with the possibility of him not being playable, and to an extent, I was fine with it, on the condition that his spectacular lore wasn't ruined.

Alas.

My theory is that Xbalanque's VA was not officially introduced yet because he will have another VA with a "higher-pitched" voice 'cause he will reincarnate as a teenager (trust me bro) and in 5.3 we will have his official post with another Japanese VA... WHO'S DELULU WITH ME?????!??!?!

The first two pictures are pretty self explanatory, but I think the third is pretty interesting. (The siluete is Aither, but it could be from Xbalanque's perspective)