Hi guys I am Inotia King a youtuber, redditor and gamer who likes theorizing about the story. I actually cobbled together a list of some of my more important theories with respect to the game Genshin Impact and Star Rail that I have been basing all of my newer theories on. I'll be putting more of those up on Hive along with new stuff but if you're impatient I also archived all my theories here. I hope some of you guys are game theorists too. Let's try to figure out these great games together!

(This theory is long because there's a bunch of stuff to explain so I've added a summary at the end.)

The Fontaine Archon Quest didn't really give us much to work with when it comes to the next stop on our journey. But thanks to Skirk there were plenty of hints at what else we might be looking forward to later in this game. For example what she says in the image above I think might give us a hint about why the Tsaritsa is collecting the Gnoses and how it'll all blow up in her face.

The idea of a powerful being's body being used to create important artifacts isn't new to mythology at all. The pelt of the Nemean Lion made Hercules immune to conventional weaponry. In the Bible Elisha's remains were able to revive the dead on contact. And Ra once used his eye to create Sekhmet a murderous panther goddess.

But on top of that there are primordial beings whose bodies construct the very world we live on. Actually while I was looking into that I had to facepalm myself because there was something I had long known about that I can't believe I didn't piece together with Celestia. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So first these primordial beings were directly referenced in the Genshin manhua.

Ymir is probably the most well known to us. In Norse mythology it's a spontaneously created god who was killed by the Aesir and then the world and humanity was born from its body parts. Purusha sacrificed himself so his body could become the world in Hindu belief.

And now here's the kicker. Pangu is both a myth in this vein but also a cosmic egg myth just like Phanes. In Pangu's story the universe was empty, consisting of the primordial chaos called Wuji where "ji" is a concept in Taoism, the "pinnacle." Pangu hatched from the egg becoming the Taiji the perfect pinnacle state of being. It then separated the ji into yin and yang and took a long time to keep them separated which ultimately cost its life. In death we then have the primordial being's body turned into the world.

Side Note: It gets a little complicated as these really old Chinese terms tend to be but the root word of "ji" is 亟 described as a person with the heavens (top horizontal line) and the earth (bottom line) capping his progress on both ends. The other words to either side of the vertical line (representing the person) are aspects of him for the purpose of reaching the pinnacle of his ability. I am really really simplifying this btw. So "wu" + 極 means devoid of this "pinnacle" which in this case would mean the potential to even have a pinnacle and so primordial chaos. And what is that in the Hoyoverse? The Sea of Quanta.

But how it relates even more to our Phanes is that there is a version of the story where four divine guardians helped Pangu make this world, the Qinglong, Zhuque, Baihu and Xuanwu. (If you are fans of SMT these are Seiryuu, Suzaku, Byakko and Genbu.)

Side Note: I once brought up a Buddhist reference to four helpers of Phanes which related to Sumeru's namesake. It stands to reason this idea of a Primordial One creating the world with a group of four underlings was deliberate by miHoYo.

I know telling you guys this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Tsaritsa but it will. The point of me telling you guys about Pangu is that Taoism is also heavily used in Genshin. Perilous Trail is probably the most overt example. In this case it's the core concept of the Taiji which I think is basically another way of seeing the Genesis Pearl, the Loom of Fate, Rhinedottir's Rubedo and the Eighth Element of Imaginary.

Ok so I brought up the Tsaritsa's plan to collect all the Gnoses before. I called it one of the "Light Plans" (named after the Light Realm) where she intends to recombine all of the seven elements back into the Light Element. (You know how Pangu separated the natural elements of yin and yang from their perfect form as the Taiji?) But now we know more.

We know the Gnoses are parts of the Third Descender's body. One of my criticisms of the Tsaritsa's plan was that just gaining the power of Light isn't going to be enough to fight against Phanes. Even if she managed to be as powerful with the element Phanes would have still had eons more experience with it. If even the Second Who Came failed to defeat it what hope does a single little Archon have? (this is also deliberate by miHoYo) But what if she had the body of a Descender a being born with the Light Element? No it's still not going to be a big help. Again Second Who Came. But at least it's less foolhardy than just gaining the same power as your opponent.

But there's a problem with merging the remains back into the body of the Third Descender isn't there? Skirk alluded to that. She advised Neuvillette to "get rid of objects of 'misfortune,' to prevent any disasters from befalling you." (I should probably also remind everybody despite what's been said in-game I still believe our sibling will be revealed as the Third Descender) So how have the twins been portrayed in this game so far? Are they calm, level-headed people? When they've set out to do something do they approach it with patience and care or slam headfirst into it until they either triumph or get knocked out? And more specifically has our sibling shown much restraint in their endeavors to combat Celestia?

I think as soon as the Tsaritsa rebuilds this Descender body she's dead. Maybe miHoYo can save her but otherwise I have no doubt our sibling will make a beeline for their old body to reclaim their full power which will be an incredible tool in their bid for revenge on Celestia.

Side Note: Also it's more likely now the Descender's body is what the Tsaritsa's after because we know the Hydro Gnosis should be drained. Neuvillette has his authority back and that authority over Hydro was what was housed in the Gnosis. Without it it's not likely the Tsaritsa can gain the Light Element by recombining the Gnoses.

Once the body is back in possession of our sibling this closes off the Snezhnaya Chapter and sets up the Khaenri'ah Chapter with our sibling now at their peak strength. And that'll be an interesting mirror match with the MC since they'll have attuned to all of the elements by this point as well.

The implication of the body of the Third Descender having the ability to house the "Archon Authority" of the dragons might have explained our Traveler's unique attributes.

We've known since the beginning that the Traveler doesn't have a Vision. The way they've been able to use the elements is by resonating with a regional Statue of the Seven but that's just in the gameplay. As early as Liyue we saw that the Traveler can employ all of the elements they've resonated with at the same time. They fought Childe with both their collected Anemo and Geo elements.

Previously I theorized that they were absorbing some kind of background elemental energy from the statues. I thought the reason they were doing this, the purpose of the journey that their sibling already completed was to regain their original power by collecting other types of elements. Then we got to Enkanomiya and learned about the wider endgame waiting for us and with three regions available it started becoming clear that the MC's abilities reflected the Archon of the region. Knowing that changed things a little. It seemed instead of absorbing background energy they were really just resonating with the Archons of each region somehow. And that led us to Fontaine where we were told by Neuvillette that the Archons themselves possess a piece of the Dragon Sovereigns. To further accent this point our Hydro Traveler doesn't have abilities that reflect the Archon but instead Neuvillette.

In other words the Traveler may in fact be resonating with the Gnoses which as Neuvillette described it by the end of the quest is full dominion over that specific element. I think that might mean the Traveler is actually attuning to the raw element itself. And with Phanes another Descender who created this system and the Third Descender housing this authority it stands to reason Descenders naturally have this affinity to adapt themselves to the world that they're assigned. Now to continue on this track it should mean that the Sustainer never actually depowered them at all during their encounter. At best it's a seal and resonating with all of the authorities weakens and will ultimately break the seal and allow them access to their original power again.

So what happened to the sibling who should have already done this? Well this new information actually might build off of what we previously learned to explain their affiliation with the Abyss Order and by extension further help me justify my belief they are still a Descender. Sumeru is where the crux of this dilemma started. At the end of the Archon Quest it was flatly stated they just weren't a Descender because Irminsul remembers them. This set off a chain of theories on how the Traveler's sibling could be related to them and still not be a Descender. That's where Fontaine comes in. We now know the Third Descender's body was taken, broken apart and then made to house the element authorities of Teyvat.

What does this mean? Well if the sibling is still that Descender it answers plenty. First they might be on the side of the Abyss and the princess of Khaenri'ah because they required the use of Khemia to build themselves back a physical body. Using Khemia and therefore constructing a body out of materials from Teyvat then makes them a part of Teyvat and the records we know about start in Khaenri'ah with Pierro. Secondly if their true body was forced to house the elements also native to Teyvat then that probably qualifies it to be recorded by Irminsul as well. This is how a twin of our Descender main character can be "of this world." (Also keep in mind we learned about the sibling being recorded by Irminsul in the same quest that ends with the Traveler being told to trust their memories above all else and those memories say they are their sibling.)

On top of that without their true body they would be unable to resonate with the elements. Instead their powers only mimic their original Descender element of Light and to do that they'd probably need something equivalent to Light which would be the Abyss. We can see that when the sibling summons their weapon in the opening cutscene of the game it appears as a yellow light construct but when they summon it in We Will Be Reunited it appears from a purple mist.

Side Note: I'm not sure if it's intentionally confusing but "Abyss" has been used as a blanket term for anything ranging from a physical abyss like a hole in the ground all the way up to the Void Realm which should be the literal Sea of Quanta in the Hoyoverse. Therefore I want to point out that the Sea of Quanta would have the Quantum element that rivals the Imaginary Tree's Imaginary element that I theorize to be the "Eighth Element" the Traveler will gain by the end of the game. The "Abyss" power that I'm saying rivals the Descenders and their Light element is a step below that. The Khvarena for example would be Imaginary rather than Light even though it's been described as a kind of light. Phanes has the power of Light which it's used its Divine Nails to suppress the Abyss but never eliminate it. The Khvarena can negate the Abyss.

I think it should start being hinted about by the end of Snezhnaya but should definitely be explained towards the end of Khaenri'ah that our sibling is definitely the Third Descender. As Scara once told us they answered the summon. I'm not sure how far miHoYo plans to take the Aeon reference (from my core theory you guys know I don't think they represent the final Aeon pair in Gnosticism) but they would have been summoned to deal with Phanes after the failure of the Second Who Came.

After that I think the facts we've gotten have also been muddied enough that we can change things again. Previously we knew that the sibling woke up first but we have no idea how much earlier. We also don't really know how close to the Cataclysm our MC woke up but we know the first cutscene wasn't their earliest memory. So if we applied this new information it could mean that not only did they not arrive close to the time of the Cataclysm but actually at the latest by the end of the Archon War which was two thousand years ago.

It could just be that whatever happened when they landed our MC didn't wake up. (or maybe we'll find out they did but something else happened in between that locked them back into their meteorite) In an as yet unspoken war between Phanes and the "Third Who Came" our sibling lost and their body was used by Phanes to lock away the essences of the Dragon Sovereigns which was then used to force the original Seven into their roles ruling over the Seven Nations. But just like the gods a Descender probably can't die either so our sibling festered, bitter and maybe in terrible pain. This paved the way for them to be coerced by the Void Realm to make use of its Abyssal Power and take revenge against Phanes. It would have helped the Sea of Quanta's schemes to undermine the Imaginary Tree's appointed protector of the Teyvat universe.

Now the problem is that we saw them employ their Light power when they were confronted by the Sustainer and that should have been just before the Cataclysm. We don't have information to figure this out so I propose three possibilities:

1. As previously discussed what if our MC actually woke up earlier too but something happened that put them back to sleep? What if they woke up together but rather than during the Cataclysm they actually tried escaping at the end of the Archon War just before our sibling was defeated?
2. Our sibling was defeated and their body turned into the Gnoses. They were then given a new body by Khaenri'ah using Khemia. Indebted to them they sided with the godless nation and coupled their revenge with the nation's extremists who hoped to overthrow the new Archon order. Together with Dainsleif they traveled Teyvat to regain their original power through resonance but then the Cataclysm hit. They woke our MC up and tried to escape only to be separated by the Sustainer. After that they realized that without their original body they couldn't harness their true power and after meeting with the Sinner decided they'd supplement themselves with Abyss Power.
3. Light as shown by Istaroth is also power over time. I explained how that works in detail here. What if everything our MC knows is still true but while they were asleep and our sibling was done with their journey they used their power over time to travel back to where their research told them was the crucial moment that established the Heavenly Principles. In a bid to stop it they fought against Phanes, lost and ended up fulfilling the role as containment for the Archon Authorities. (you can relate it to the Sacred Sakura and the time loop Istaroth created to have Ei plant it in the past)

With all of these failures it's no wonder so many prominent figures are interested in us. We're the fourth attempt at getting it right, the fourth person to seek out the Genesis Pearl in the Kingdom of Darkness. If we should fail, how much more can Teyvat take?

To summarize:

• Phanes and its four shining shades might have a direct and even Chinese source in real-world mythology.
• Taiji may be yet another source of inspiration for miHoYo in coming up with the Genesis Pearl and the Traveler's purpose in Genshin Impact.
• Without the Archon Authority in the Hydro Gnosis the Tsaritsa can't obtain the Light Element by combining their power but because the Gnoses themselves are the remains of the Third Descender she may be collecting them to rebuild a Descender body for the same purpose.
• Doing so will invite "misfortune" and "disaster" which is her downfall.
• The Traveler's sibling is the Third Descender and they will come to reclaim their body.
• The Khaenri'ah Chapter will then feature a mirror match between the twin Descenders.
• Descenders like the Traveler may resonate with the pure elemental energies, the highest form of which would be the Dragon Sovereigns.
• Without their true body the sibling may have needed to rely on the Abyss to supplement their power.
• Though we are told to trust the Traveler's personal memories they may still be subject to interpretation and that could change the timeline.
• Maybe they actually arrived during the Archon War. Maybe the sibling woke up during the Archon War but only woke the Traveler when they attempted to escape Teyvat around the time of the Cataclysm. Maybe the sibling actually used time travel to go back to the Archon War, failed and thus had their body turned into the Gnoses.

Does this make sense? Of the possibilities I came up with which seems most likely? Do you have your own possibility?

Topic originally created on January 4th, 2024.