In ages past, Teyvat used to have hundreds of deities, the vast majority of which either perished or were sealed away in the wake of a free-for-all war two thousand years ago, from which seven survivors were chosen by Celestia to become the first Archons. Of the other surviving deities, many of them would perish over the centuries, more so during the Cataclysm five hundred years ago which also claimed some of the first Archons, while the few survivors in the present are either subservient to the Archons or degraded in power.

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In General

Death of the Old Gods: Something that comes up fairly often in the backstory is that besides the Archons, there used to be many more gods ruling over Teyvat, almost all of which appear to have either died or disappeared. For example, the area called "Sal Terrae" used to be ruled over by the God of Salt, before she was betrayed and killed.
Great Offscreen War: There have been a number of major periods of warfare in Teyvat's history.
- The war fought between the Seven Dragon Sovereigns who once ruled the world, and the Primordial One who came from beyond. The Primordial One defeated the Sovereigns, and presumably went on to establish Celestia.
- The conflict between the Primordial One and the entity referred to by Before Sun and Moon as the Second Who Came, another visitor from beyond. According to the Flower of Paradise Lost Artifact set, the aftermath of this war was so devastating that the Primordial One dropped "thorns" onto the land to "repair" it, at the cost of rendering the areas they landed in hostile to life in ways they hadn't been before.
- The "war of vengeance" mentioned in Neuvillette's profile, in which the Dragon King Nibelung led the Sovereigns into battle against Celestia once again. While the Sovereigns were defeated, the "Usurper" was so badly injured that their Authority was no longer sufficient to suppress the will of the world on its own. It was forced to supplement its efforts by creating the Gnoses with the help of another Descender, and is implied to be the direct cause of the Archon Wars. Neuvillette's profile also states that this is also when Visions created from the Sovereigns' stolen Authorities started to be distributed.
- The Archon Wars, in which many gods affiliated with Celestia fought over the right to become The Seven Archons who would rule over the lands of Teyvat. The victors were each awarded a Gnosis which according to Skirk are the Third Descender's remains. Each Archon also had to accept a portion of the elemental authority stolen from the Sovereigns, making them party to the Usurper's crimes in Neuvillette's eyes.
- The Cataclysm, in which the Archons and their people fought against the abyssal monsters pouring out of Khaenri'ah. This conflict occurred at some point after the Fourth Descender and their sibling arrived in Khaenri'ah. When they tried to flee the war-torn world, they were attacked and consequently trapped in Teyvat by the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.
Leaking Can of Evil: Some of the defeated gods were sealed, but their grudges and laments seep through and can create "remnants" that still threaten the land. Certain materials such as Aerosiderite and the Relic of Guyun are infused with the power of those defeated gods.
Odd Job Gods: Some were patrons of non-standard "elements", like Dust and Salt, or represented less important ideas, such as Cooking.
Person of Mass Destruction: Being gods, each of them is capable of this on a large scale, as Osial, Azhdaha, Kanna Kapatcir, and Beisht in particular demonstrate.

Celestia

Celestia is a mysterious floating island that in the sky above Teyvat, said to be the residence of the gods. Legend holds that only mortals who perform great, heroic feats can ascend to Celestia and achieve godhood, where they will watch over their people from above.

In General

Ambiguously Evil: The gods of Celestia are not as benevolent as they make themselves out to be.
- In the Genshin Impact manga, when Vanessa ascended to Celestia, we see a brief look of the interior of Celestia, and its anything but pleasant. The room highly resembled that of a Panopticon prison, a far cry from the widely assumed promise of being rewarded for your great deeds.
- Dragonspine wasn't always the frozen wasteland it is today. Before Barbatos's ascension, it was a verdant green oasis juxtaposed against Mondstadt's frozen landscape. That ended when the Skyfrost Nail fell upon the mountain, bringing with it the intense cold Dragonspine is currently known for and eventually destroying the ancient kingdom of Vindagnyr that once prospered therein. The Nail's exact origins are unknown, but the people of the mountain believe it came from Celestia. Lore about the ancient civilization formed by Rukkhadevata, King Deshret, and the God of Flowers also reveals that another Nail landed on their paradise, which created the desert that exists today. According to the Flower of Paradise Lost artifact set, the Primordial One used the Nails to "repair" the devastation caused by the conflict with the Second Who Came, but in doing so drastically altered the environments they landed in and rendered them completely uninhabitable. Whatever it was that the Primordial One meant to do with the Nails, survival of its subjects did not appear to be a priority.
- A Preliminary Study of Sangonomiya Folk Belief suggests that the Raiden Shogun was forced to kill all the other gods on Inazuma on Celestia's orders and that it similarly condemned Orobashi to commit suicide for accidentally learning a tabooed secret, driving it to provoke the Raiden Shogun into killing it.
- At the end of the first Traveler's Tale (Archon Quest Chapter I, Act IV), Dainsleif reveals that 500 years ago, they were responsible for the destruction of Khaenri'ah, an advanced society that didn't need a god to rule over them. Whether or not The Seven were on board with this decision is unknown, but Dainsleif's hints, as well as his warnings to not fully trust them, was enough for the Traveler to become miffed at Barbatos and Rex Lapis after having helped them in their respective chapters. The ambiguous part comes in with the reveal of Dainsleif being a survivor of Khaenri'ah, meaning he would have painted the gods in a negative light out of prejudice and may not be telling the whole story (assuming he even knows it). He also stated that it would be better to avoid trying to overthrow the divine, describing it as a repeat of the "failings of my forebears," which imply that Khaenri'ah either opposed the gods or did something horrible that drew the ire of Celestia.
- Oddly, despite The Seven supposedly being subordinate to Celestia, that doesn't seem to have won it much if any loyalty. As of v4.2, the known opinions of the Archons towards Celestia seems to tend towards negative:
  - The Anemo Archon, Barbatos/Venti, gives only cryptic answers to the Traveler when they ask him about Celestia; in another anecdote, he is uncomfortable when also asked by Vennessa, even he imagines three ominous silhouettes when she asks. Making his tenuous relationship with Celestia clear.
  - The Geo Archon, Morax, has somewhat vague opinions, given that his current avatar, Zhongli, refuses to say anything about Celestia to the Traveler, citing his vow of silence. However, he willingly traded his Gnosis to the Tsaritsa despite her obvious intentions, and gave up the role he was appointed to by Celestia in favor of putting the future in his people's hands, which seemingly goes against the Heavenly Principles. And even with his vow of silence, he subtly nudges the Traveler in the right direction by confirming the existence of whatever truth their sibling saw while also reminding them how easily truth can be distorted by time and word of mouth, telling them to use their own judgement.
  - The Electro Archon, the Raiden Shogun/Ei, deeply fears Celestia's enforcement of its Heavenly Principles, having personally witnessed it brutalize Khaenri'ah for daring to defy it, and her misguided pursuit of eternity was just as much driven by a desire to prevent a similar fate from befalling Inazuma as much as despair over the death of her twin sister and predecessor Makoto during said cataclysm. In the epilogue for the Inazuma Archon Quest, it is revealed that she severed her ties with Celestia long ago when she gave up her Gnosis. In addition, when she planted the Sacred Sakura at the end of her second Story Quest, Makoto's lingering consciousness expressed hope that it will allow their homeland to escape the Heavenly Principles, which implies that the extremism displayed during the Cataclysm wasn't necessarily a one-time thing.
  - The Dendro Archon, Buer/Kusanali, may not have been as involved in Dirty Business as her fellow Archons, being the youngest of them, but she still has a negative opinion of Celestia, saying that there was no point in all the suffering they inflicted by kickstarting the Archon War. At the end of the Sumeru Archon Quest, when she, as her current avatar Nahida, threatens to put the Heavenly Principles into play for the first time in half a millennium unless Il Dottore kills all his clones in exchange for the Electro Gnosis, it's not so much her calling for Celestia's help as much as threatening to deliberately draw down its ire, with both Nahida and Dottore seeming to agree that Celestia would not take well to such a challenge to its authority.
  - The Hydro Archon, Focalors, is indicated by Dainsleif to be wary of Celestia, stating that while she is the "God of Justice" who seeks to judge even the other Archons, even she knows not to make an enemy of the divine. During the Fontaine Archon Quest, Focalors created "Furina" in order to have her pose as the Hydro Archon for the next 500 years to save Fontaine's humans from dissolution as per an ancient prophecy that Celestia to punish her predecessor Egeria's crime of turning her Oceanid followers into human mimics without Celestia's permission. Eventually Focalors is forced to execute herself alongside the Hydro Archon's throne to return power to Neuvillette so that he can defy the Heavenly Principles. However, there will never be another Hydro Archon as a result of the throne's destruction. Notably, Focalors's fellow Archons have nothing but praise for this act of defiance.
  - The Cryo Archon, the Tsaritsa, has been gathering strength for some time, and though her Fatui have been meddling with the affairs of other countries including claiming the Gnoses of her fellow Archons, her true goal is to mount a rebellion against Celestia.
Ambiguous Situation:
- According to Raiden, she had nothing to do with Electro Visions having recently stopped being given out, or at least she doesn't know why, as Celestia is in charge of giving Visions, not the Archons. Why Celestia has done this and what Raiden has done that may have caused them to react in this way is currently unknown. Version 4.2 eventually reveals the truth is that Visions are created using the stolen elemental authority of the Seven Sovereigns that were killed by Phanes, which the Archons are bound by oath to grant to humans whose wishes reach the heavens. That leaves two possibilities: either the wishes that she ought to be empowering are being intercepted somewhere along the way, or there's an issue with the authority of the Electro Sovereign that is being used to do so.
- As of v4.0, it is unclear what the actual requirements are for receiving a Vision, as the circumstances in which characters have received them vary; in some cases, characters have received their Visions in near-death experiences, or for their perseverance in a mentally or physically difficult but non-fatal situation, whereas in other cases, it appears to be random, with characters like Yaoyao not even knowing why they received a Vision in the first place. Why some characters receive specific elements is also ambiguous; though there are some trends that tie certain characters together, no one can quite agree on what.
- Celestia is often regarded as the "throne in the sky". What is not widely known is that there were two such thrones. According to "Before Sun and Moon", the first one, led by a god referred to as the "Primordial One" and its "four shades", defeated another group of primordial deities known as the "Seven Sovereigns" and made life comfortable for humans. The second throne's appearance ignited a new war which devastated the land. Because Enkanomiya was plunged below the surface during this conflict, it never got to see the result, so they assumed that, since the Primordial One was still able to give them commands, the second throne must have lost; however, it's not actually clear which one Celestia is.
Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Celestia was badly weakened after winning a massive conflict that Neuvillette knows as the "great war of vengenace", so much so that it no longer had sufficient power to suppress the original order of the world. It was thus forced to cooperate with The Second Who Came to create the Gnoses which came to be the prizes of the Archon Wars.
Control Freak: Heavily implied. When Egeria used the power of Primordial Sea to turn her Oceanid followers into pseudo-humans without Celestia's permission, the latter's response was to create a prophecy where Fontaine will be drowned by the Sea and its people will be dissolved in it, implying that they are averse to any kind of being that isn't under their complete control. All they got from this was Focalors' ire, and desire for her people to completely escape their control; and she eventually succeeded in it, with the help of a Dragon Sovereign - Celestia's enemy - no less.
Create Your Own Hero: After ages of Egeria failing to appease Celestia for the act of using the Primordial Sea to turn her Oceanid followers into humans, her successor Focalors decides that the only way out is to turn her back on it completely. The result is the complete loss of Celestia's control over Fontaine; with the obliteration of the seat of Hydro Archon and the Hydro Sovereign's return to power, Fontaine's people have been granted full humanity and are now under the protection of one of Celestia's most ancient enemies.
Create Your Own Villain: Whatever it was that Celestia did during the Cataclysm, it resulted in the formation of both the Abyss Order and the Fatui, both of which are causing trouble all over Teyvat and scheming to overthrow Celestia.
The Dreaded: While normal humans are reverent towards Celestia, those who know better regard it instead with wariness, not just factions that oppose it like the Fatui and the Abyss Order but also the Archons whom are ostensibly its agents. Whatever Celestia's actual intent, no one with actual knowledge of it seems to like the idea of it taking direct action.
Driving Question:
- What exactly is Celestia? What are their goals?
- What are Visions? According to Xiao's lines, Visions are given by Celestia, and according to Lisa, they hold a dark secret... Bits of infos, along with more questions, pop up as the story goes: Raiden Shogun confirms that "strong wishes" is one of the criteria for being granted a Vision, alongside another one that she can't disclose; but more importantly she doesn't actually have the ability to "grant or deny" Visions. Neuvillette's character story reveals that the Visions' source of power are the "draconic authority" of the Seven Sovereigns, from whom the "Usurper" stole parts of said authority, which are later handed to the Seven Archons, who were duty-bound to give pieces of said authority to people whose wishes reach the heavens, without knowing from whom or what kind of wish they are. It's also said that once the Vision's holders fulfill their ambition (or "duty" as the text calls it), "the gift the gods would receive in return would be more abundant still". If the Narzissenkreuz Ordo's notes are to be believed, to be given a Vision means to be tied to the fate of the world - "to Heirmarmene"^note, and the Ordo's philosophy involves avoiding such a situation, as they deem obtaining a Vision as being on a "guaranteed path to destruction".
Gray-and-Grey Morality: On the one hand, Celestia unquestionably went too far in punishing every Khaenri'ahn from royalty and nobility down to the last woman and child for "something" Khaenri'ahn being the trigger for the Cataclysm. On the other hand, the Cataclysm unleashed immense destruction upon Teyvat and caused unspeakable suffering to countless lives, to say nothing of the terrible prices paid by the various beings from mortals all the way through Archons to preserve their world. The devastation was so widespread and deep-rooted that Teyvat is still fighting the aftereffects in the present, which not only includes those who are eternally trapped in their own fates worse than death but also several still-ongoing crises that the Traveler needs to help quell during their travels. These are horrific consequences that cannot simply be swept under the rug.
Hostile Terraforming: At one point in the past, Celestia dropped several Divine Nails on Teyvat to “fix” its environment. However, it has been shown that those nails had done a lot of damage to the world, as some of them were dropped in areas that were already inhabited. As of v4.4, only three of them have been found:
- The first Divine Nail encountered is the Skyfrost Nail in Dragonspine. Dragonspine used to be a lush grass field, but the nail had turned the area into the frozen wasteland that it is today, though for what reasons is unclear.
- The second Divine Nail is in the Chasm. While that nail had turned the area into a crater, it is also keeping the dark mud contained, and is keeping an Eldritch Location called the Chasm’s Bed sealed off from the rest of the world.
- The third Divine Nail is located at Mt. Damavand. Sumeru used to be a lush rainforest, but the Divine Nail had turned three quarters of the region into a desert. That nail was also used when Apep had accumulated Forbidden Knowledge, and is surrounded by a perpetual sand storm.
- On Tsurumi Island, there are ruins with wall paintings in them that suggest that a Divine Nail was used in Inazuma. But where that nail is located and for what purpose is unknown.
Hypocrite: As Focalors points out after detailing her plan to Neuvillette, they effectively tried to punish Egeria, herself and the people of Fontaine, for something they themselves did in the past. Just as Egeria drew on the power of the Primordial Sea to turn her Oceanid followers into humans, which she did without Celestia's permission, they themselves stole the power of the Seven Sovereigns who originally ruled Teyvat in order to create the Gnoses and the Archons. If she had it her way, she would have liked to judge the Heavenly Principles as well for that exact crime.
Jerkass Gods: Between forcing others to fight and die in the Archon Wars, destroying Khaenri'ah (and turning almost its entire population into hilichurls), dropping Divine Nails on various locations, punishing Egeria (along with the people of Fontaine) for her "original sin" with the great flood, forcing Orobashi to commit Suicide by Cop at Raiden Shogun's hands, and various other reprehensible actions, Celestia more than qualifies for this trope.
Orbital Bombardment: The Divine Nails that they used to "fix" Tevyet’s environment are implied to double as weapons of mass destruction, as they were dropped in areas that were previously inhabited by civilization.
Outside-Context Problem: All of Teyvat's big players, be it Archons, Sovereigns, or the Abyss Order, are aware of the threat Celestia poses to varying degrees, and are making their moves accordingly. Teyvat's laypeople on the other hand largely do not, creating an information gap that sometimes generates friction and even conflict between Archons and their people.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Remember the Gnoses Celestia handed out to the Archons? According to Skirk, they're made from the remains of the Third Descender.

The Primordial One

The Primordial One / "Phanes" / The First Descender

"The Primordial One, the great sovereign, began the creation of heaven and earth for "our" sake — that of its creations which it cherished most, who would soon appear upon this earth."

—Before Sun and Moon

The progenitor god who allegedly came to Teyvat from another world. It battled against and defeated the seven sovereign dragon-lords who ruled over the old world, and went on to create the heavens and earth for the sake of humanity. Before Sun and Moon speculates that the Primordial One could have been named Phanes.

Ambiguous Situation: During the end of the Sumeru Archon Quest, Nahida believes the Heavenly Principles is actually the First Descender that arrived in Teyvat. However, she stated that they have been completely silent since the cataclysm 500 years in the past, heavily implying that something might have actually happened to them. Notably, the Primordial Sea flooding Fontaine was a prophecy left behind by the Heavenly Principles, but it was carried out by the All-Devouring Narwhal who originally came from the Abyss.
Cosmic Egg: It was said to have been born from one and used its eggshell to create Teyvat.
The Creator: Its myths claim the sky and the lands as they exist today in Teyvat were created by the Primordial One.
Evil Colonialist: In the dragons and vishaps' perspective as true natives of Teyvat, their never-ending grudge against Celestia and its agents all started when the Primoridal One forcibly took over their land to create an ideal environment for the humans it wanted to create.
Literal Split Personality: Created four "shining shades" of itself with their own personalities and abilities to battle the Seven Sovereigns who ruled over Teyvat on its arrival.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Phanes is named after the primeval deity of procreation and new life from Greek Orphic cosmology, and shares traits with its real-life counterpart such as being born from a Cosmic Egg, being androgynous and winged, and wearing a crown.
Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: The Primordial One came from somewhere outside Teyvat and conquered it, becoming the Heavenly Principles.

The Moon Sisters

Aria, Sonnet, and Canon

Three women of Teyvatian mythos who presumably lived at the same time as the Primordial One. They personally blessed the marriage of a Seelie and an Outlander, but something happened afterwards that caused them to murder each other.

God of the Moon: All three of them, in fact. Before their mutual murders, each sister would ride the celestial carriage once a month, for a total of three lunar cycles in one month. Presently, the Moon seen in Teyvat's sky is said to the corpse of one of them. The location of the other two corpses is unconfirmed as of version 3.5, though it is implied that the one seen in the Abyss is the second one.
Musical Theme Naming: Each sister is named after a type of musical composition.
Sibling Murder: During or after the conflict that forced the Outlander to forget the Seelie he loved and forced the Seelie race to lose their form and memories, the Moon sisters turned on each other and subsequently, all died. This might explain why the Teyvatian moon doesn’t have rotational phases like the real life one has, and is permanently set on a full moon.

Istaroth

Istaroth, the God of Moments / Kairos

"Seeds of stories, brought by the wind and cultivated by time. Stories brought on the wind will bloom into legends in due time."

A goddess with power over the winds and time. She was worshipped by many during the Archon Wars, including the nations of Mondstadt and Enkanomiya. However, she has largely been forgotten in the present.

Ambiguously Related: Her title as the Thousand Winds, and evidence of her worship in Mondstadt, implies she's somehow related to Barbatos/Venti who, before becoming a god, was just one of thousands of wind sprites and who has shown to have limited power over time himself. Many players believe Barbatos to be her creation, an offshoot, or even something akin to her son.
Big Good: Possibly. At the end of Ei's second Story Quest, she and Miko wonder if Istaroth may have been involved in the creation of the Sacred Sakura to protect Inazuma, and possibly the reason the Traveler, Paimon, and Ei were able to return to the present from the realm of consciousness as well. If true, then that means there's a god with total control over time watching over Teyvat (and perhaps the Traveler as well).
I Have Many Names: Istaroth had many names and titles among the various nations and groups that worshiped her, including the God of Moments, the God of Time, the Master of Time, the Ruler of Time, Kairos, the Thousand Winds of Time, the Tokoyo Ookami, and the Undying Wind.
Irony: She is one of the Primordial One's four shades, who governs time and cultivates stories into legends. One would think her to be a significant presence in Teyvat's pantheon, yet many of Teyvat's stories and legends have been swept away with the passing of time, including most traces of her own existence. In addition, Celestia itself has taken measures to ensure certain parts of history stay forgotten.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming:
- Like many of the gods in Genshin her name comes from the name of a demon in Ars Goetia, in her case Astaroth.
- Among the people of Enkanomiya, who used Greek naming conventions, she was called Kairos, another name for Caerus, the god of luck and opportunity in Classical Mythology.
Time Abyss: If a forbidden Enkanomiyan riddle recounted in "In the Light, Beneath the Shadow" is to be believed, Istaroth is considered to be the mother of fourteen milliard years. This period of time is only a little longer than the estimated age of our own universe, raising important questions about the nature of the universe beyond Teyvat.
Time Master: When Enkanomiya's king ordered a spirit tree in Enkanomiya cut down, the gardener was advised by the king's priest to save one of the tree's branches. When the branch was planted in the ground, Istaroth's power instantly regrew it into another spirit tree despite the process normally taking 500 years. Other examples of her power include the Sacrificial series of weapons; they each have a chance to reset the cooldowns of elemental skills used by the equipped characters, and their lore entries all recount how Mondstadt's great clans of ancient times paid respects to the master of time in addition to the master of Anemo.

The Unknown God

The Unknown God / The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unknowngod.png

Voiced by: Dian Tao (Chinese), Rie Kugimiya (Japanese), Christie Cate (English)

A mysterious god from Celestia with power over space that captured and separated the two Celestial Twins as they attempted to leave the world of Teyvat, kickstarting the Traveler's journey to find their sibling and the truths of this world.

All There in the Manual: Though unnamed in the game itself for multiple story arcs, the GameObjects files label her as "Asmoday" from her very first cutscene, matching the Religious and Mythological Theme Naming of the other gods (and Paimon) by having the name of a demon from the Ars Goetia.
Company Cross References: She seems to be this universe's version of Kiana Kaslana, in her Herrscher of the Void incarnation. Their designs, mannerisms, and powers are strikingly similar, serving as a terrifying figure looming over the narrative, and voiced by the same actresses in the Chinese and Japanese versions.
Curb-Stomp Battle: She effortlessly deals with the twin Travelers in the prologue cutscene. They cannot even land a hit on her.
Exotic Eye Designs: Golden eyes with cross-shaped pupils not unlike a character from Honkai Impact 3rd she seems to be based on.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Wears a long glove on her left arm but not her right one.
Greater-Scope Villain: All but said to be one of the gods involved in Khaenri'ah's destruction, having ranted about the "arrogation of mankind" to the twins while cutting off their escape when they tried to flee Teyvat upon seeing the carnage. Her attack on the twins also results in one of them joining the Abyss Order.
Have You Seen My God?: A mild case, but during the Sumeru archon quest both Il Dottore and Nahida mention that the Sustainer has not been seen for 500 years, since the destruction of Khaenri'ah.
Idiot Hair: Having a small, crescent moon-shaped cowlick on the top of her head, once again she is a dead-ringer for a certain troubled but endearingly dorky gun-slinging main heroine from Honkai Impact 3rd.
Light Is Not Good: She has a bright, divine, angelic appearance, but is very antagonistic to the Twins, if not outright evil.
Magical Barefooter: A floating goddess with nothing but bandages on her feet.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Traveler and their sibling were literally about to leave Teyvat when she attacked them. They only get involved in solving the mystery of Celestia in an attempt to get their sibling back, so if The Traveler takes her, or Celestia down, it'll be her fault.
No Name Given: At the start of the game, Paimon only refers to her as "The Unknown God" when re-iterating the Traveler's story, even when Lumine asks her name, the Unknown God did not reveal her name.
Physical God: She has the power to stop both twins at full strength with one hand for each of them.
Red Baron: When Lumine asks who she is, the Unknown God calls herself the "Sustainer of Heavenly Principles".
Satanic Archetype: A bright, angelic appearance and the cause of all the problems in the game? Yeah, that should do it.
Small Role, Big Impact: She only appears in the game's opening cutscene as of Version 4.4, but she's responsible for kickstarting the entire plan into motion by kidnapping the Traveler's sibling in the first place. The Traveler wouldn't even be solving the mysteries of Teyvat in the first place otherwise.
Space Master: Her powers revolve around stringing along multiple chains of black-and-red cubes that teleport a target away once fully encased by the cubes, which is what happens to the twins in the prologue.
Visionary Villain: All that we know about her motives are that she says she wants to stop "the arrogation of mankind".^note

Seelies

Our Angels Are Different: Seelies seem to fit the depiction of angels in Christianity. They were guides for humanity and forbidden to fall in love with them.

Mondstadt

Four Winds

See their page here.

The God of Storms

Decarabian

The deity of Old Mondstadt, the ruins of which are now known as Stormterror's Lair. He surrounded the city with impenetrable storms that blocked out the sky and ruled over a thousand wind spirits. He was felled in an uprising led by the wind spirit who would become the Anemo Archon, Barbatos, and an unnamed bard, whose appearance the former took in his memory after he perished late in the conflict.

Arch-Enemy: He was Andrius's in life.
Blow You Away: The master of storms and commander of a thousand wind spirits.
Control Freak: On top of authoritarianism, he even micromanaged the living quarters each of his city's residents would live in.
Divine Date: He was the mortal Amos' lover, though she realised eventually that he did not love her the way she did him.
God Is Flawed: Stormterror's Lair was once Old Mondstadt, created from Decarabian's dream of prosperity. And even though he was content with being worshipped, he didn't realize that they weren't so much bowing to him out of respect or adoration as much as out of fear.
Jerkass Gods: He was a tyrannical ruler who imprisoned the people of Mondstadt with storms that surrounded their city and let no one outside.
Obliviously Evil: Despite the revolt against him, Decarabian believed that he was loved by the people and was doing what was best for them by imprisoning them, as he kept the cold and frost of the world around them away from Mondstadt.
Posthumous Character: He died thousands of years ago and is only known due to Venti's stories about him.
Red Baron: Aside from "God of Storms", Decarabian is also known as the "King of Gales".
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Just like most of the other gods (and Paimon), Decarabian also shares a name with a demon from Ars Goetia.

Liyue

Avenger of the Vortex (Unmarked Spoilers)

Beisht

Osial's spouse and devout follower, who appears to avenge his defeat and finish his work.

Arc Villain: Beisht serves as the main villain of the first Archon Quest Interlude.
Avenging the Villain: As if the title didn't make it abundantly clear.
Berserk Button: Ningguang speculates that the sight of the Jade Chamber, which was used as a Colony Drop to seal her husband once more, would be this for her and prompt her to appear to finish what her husband started. And so Ningguang organised the Milileth, the Crux Crew, and miscellaneous Vision Holders such as Qiqi in preparation for her appearance to repel her and protect the populace upon getting her newly re-built Jade Chamber up in the air.
Expy: Considering that the "boss" against Osial in the Liyue chapter was more fending off Fatui forces while dodging his attacks, and her similar appearance to her husband, fighting her is the closest you get to fighting the actual Osial face to face.
God Couple: She is Osial's wife.
Making a Splash: Like Osial, she's a giant sea monster with a terrifying control over the Hydro element.
Our Hydras Are Different: She's a giant, multi-headed sea monster like Osial. Unlike Osial, she only has three heads as opposed to his five. This presents itself in gameplay with each of her heads having an individual health bar, with the player needing to lower all three to zero to beat her.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Takes her name from Beisht Kione of Celtic Myth, a sea monster that was said to reside off the south coast of the Isle of Man.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After Shenhe freezes her tsunami and being bombarded by the Milileth's ballistae, she decides to retreat and recupurate. Shenhe doesn't let her go easily.
Weather Manipulation: Like her husband, Beisht is able to completely subdue weather at her will simply with her presence.

The Goddess of Dust

Guizhong / Haagentus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guizhong.png

Goddess of the Guili Assembly alongside Rex Lapis. She was eventually killed in the Archon War, and her people scattered until eventually Rex Lapis gathered their people back and brought them to the south, creating Liyue Harbor.

Ambiguous Situation: There are three major ambiguous things regarding Guizhong:
- Her exact relationship with Rex Lapis is left up to interpretation, with a scholar in-game theorizing them to be "close friends," but the description of the Memory of Dust weapon suggests that there might be more than just friendship involved, especially since Guizhong didn't actually form any formal contract with Rex Lapis and yet the two ruled together anyway. It's never elaborated upon either way.
  What a silly notion. There was no formal contract between them. They were merely two people walking the same path for their own reasons... But he remembers the scene of their first meeting anyway when the Glaze Lilies were still in abundant bloom.
- How exactly she died. Soraya, a traveling scholar from Sumeru, mentions how unusual and bizarre Guizhong's death is, as it happens not only in her home territory in Guili, but also because Rex Lapis is with her. The two prevailing theories are either they faced an opponent so strong that they managed to kill Guizhong in battle despite Rex Lapis' best efforts, or that Rex Lapis was the one to kill her because she's suffering from erosion; the latter is supported by the fact that the battle was described as having "black dust" and "thousand rocks" and nothing else - the element of Guizhong and Rex Lapis - and that Rex Lapis won't hesitate to kill friend turned enemies, while the 3.4 Lantern Rite event cutscene supports the former, with Cloud Retainer saying that Guizhong was overpowered by the enemy and fell in battle, with the others gathering to observe her after she became a statue. Mudding the truth further is Zhongli, Rex Lapis' mortal guise - in the final part of the 3.4 Lantern Rite event - saying that "the same truth will sound different coming from different people" and that Soraya's conclusions are very close to the truth; with Cloud Retainer and Streetward Rambler only arriving on the scene after Guizhong is already dead, Rex Lapis might be the only person who knows the full truth behind Guizhong's death.
- Guizhong's final fate is also up to interpretation because the developers confirmed that gods never truly die, as part of their will lives on even if their physical form is destroyed. The in-game book Records of the Gallant, Volume 2 (titled "Dust") features the mysterious woman who appeared in Glaze Lilies and uses a blade, matching anecdotes about her proficiency with swords (the Primordial Jade Cutter is heavily implied to be made for her by Rex Lapis). Some characters speculate that she was an Adeptus, while others believe she was a servant of a god. What's extremely perplexing is how this maiden killed some of the Millelith and left behind "bloodied dust" without any visible reason.
  The remnants and the wrath of the defeated gods will remain in the world, waiting for opportunities to cause chaos.
Brains and Brawn: In the description of the Memory of Dust weapon, while not mentioning any names, it's implied that she was the Brains to Rex Lapis' Brawn as the pair of gods that watched over the Guili Assembly.
Celestial Body: The inside of Guizhong's sleeves feature galaxies that move and glow, much like Paimon's scarf.
Cute Oversized Sleeves: She wore massive, billowing sleeves that added to her youthful, energetic appearance. Her hands remain hidden inside her sleeves, even when she was writing or working on projects.
Earthy Barefoot Character: In contrast to the human forms of the other female adepti shown in the "Echoes of the Heart" cutscene, Guizhong only wears an anklet around her right ankle, possibly due to her dominion over dust.
The Engineer: She created the Guizhong Ballista, a powerful siege weapon that can be used to fight gods, because strength-wise she's vastly inferior to other gods and thus has to make up for it with wisdom and knowledge. The "Echoes of the Heart" cutscene from the 2023 Lantern Rite event also shows that Rex Lapis had once declared Guizhong to be the better engineer over Cloud Retainer, a skilled engineer in her own right, with Cloud Retainer admitting as much.
Flower Motifs: Guizhong is associated closely with Glaze Lillies. The Memory of Dust description states that her first and last moments with Rex Lapis took place among a field of Glaze Lillies, and the flowers dwindled in number to almost extinction after her death. In the present, the adepti who were on close terms with her (Rex Lapis and Streetward Rambler, now known as Zhongli and Madam Ping) are also often seen with them, with the flowers featuring prominently beside Zhongli in official art while Madam Ping can be found admiring and talking about them in her dialogue at her table in Yujing Terrace. A certain dialogue option when you approach her after completing the Liyue Archon Quest will also have her give you 5 Glaze Lillies.
Flowers of Femininity: Other than her Flower Motifs, Guizhong also had four-petal flower-shaped fabric decorations on her detached sleeves.
First-Name Basis: In contrast to the adepti or Rex Lapis who only address or refer to each other by their titles, everyone almost always refers to Guizhong by her personal name, with her demon name only revealed during the 3.4 Lantern Rite event, most likely due to Guizhong's friendly and approachable personality.
Fun Personified: Cloud Retainer fondly recalls her being the center of any social gathering, bright and cheerful compared to the more stoic, moody, or prideful personalities of the other adepti.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Even though she is described as one of the weaker gods with an unimpressive dominion over the element of Dust, a stone tablet found in Guili Plains describing her states "whose reach shrouded the skies for thousands of miles around...," implying that she may have been supremely skilled with her element regardless of strength.
Heavenly Blue: Not only does she have galaxies in her sleeves, but her clothing and accessories also have an overall blue and white color scheme.
Humans Are Special: She was the first among Liyue's guardians to recognize the potential in humanity, expressing wonder at their ability to grow and develop far beyond their short lifespans and physical weakness. Madame Ping recalls her advising the others of how she believed mankind to be capable of reaching the same level as the Adepti, given sufficient guidance and opportunity.
Identical Stranger: She bears a resemblance to both Lumine and Sandrone due to their similar hairstyles, light complexion, and Medium Female body types. The main distinctions between them are their hair and eye colors, as well as their hair lengths, with Lumine having the shortest hair between the three.
Memento MacGuffin:
- She gave Rex Lapis her stone dumbbell, the Memory of Dust, said to contain all of her knowledge and wisdom as a challenge and a mark of their pledge together. Rex Lapis, as Zhongli, keeps it to this day, millennia after her death, and has yet to unlock it, although it is implied that he doesn't want her knowledge, merely to keep it in her memory.
- It turns out that the Cleansing Bell obtained from Madame Ping in Liyue's Archon Quests was in fact created by Guizhong. She built it as a musical instrument, and Rex Lapis declared it for ceremonial use to resolve a debate between Guizhong and Streetward Rambler.
Mirror Character:
- Guizhong and the Goddess of Flowers were both extremely close to their local male god (Rex Lapis and King Deshret respectively) to the point where they co-founded and co-ruled a city together, were The Heart of their respective social groups, and were associated with flowers that disappeared after their deaths. However, while Guizhong's influence spurred Rex Lapis to become a better and wiser ruler, allowing their people to thrive even in her absence, the Goddess of Flowers' death eventually caused King Deshret to bring his civilisation to ruin, death upon himself and more than a thousand years of division and strife afterwards to his people.
- Guizhong and Focalors, the second Hydro Archon, were goddesses dressed prominently in white and Heavenly Blue who passed away, leaving their male divine co-ruler with similar elemental powers and associations with dragons to succeed them as the sole ruler of their people.
Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: In the distant past, her relationship with Ping involved constant bickering over their differing ideals about music, eventually requiring Rex Lapis himself to intervene. In spite of this, the two grew extremely close, to the point where Madame Ping grew to view Guizhong as her soulmate, and they enjoyed discussing and debating each other on numerous subjects, often going up into the mountains to play together. The Cleansing Bell that Madame Ping was guarding was created by Guizhong and kept in memory of their friendship. Even hundreds of years after Guizhong's death, Madame Ping has not moved on from her and mourns her by solemnly reminiscing about the past and admiring the Glaze Lilies.
Portmanteau: Ruling together with Rex Lapis on the land known as the "Guili" Plains resulted by combining pieces of both of their current names. While Guizhong's name was known, the name of the incarnation of Rex Lapis at that time is lost to time but is implied to have been "Zhongli".
Posthumous Character: She was killed in the Archon War long before the events of the game.
Roman à Clef: With the specific use of 知音 (zhīyīn, literally "(One that) understands (my) music") by Madam Ping in the original Chinese text to describe Guizhong, them becoming friends over music, as well as Madam Ping being a Chinese zither player, the story behind their relationship is based on a famous historical tale about a Chinese zither player who was so heartbroken after his friend who understood his music passed away that he never played again, and is also where "知音" is widely known from.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Like many other gods in Teyvat, her demon name can be derived from the 'Ars Goetia'' as an altered version of Haagenti.
Riddle for the Ages: The Memory of Dust she left behind for Rex Lapis. Initially a challenge for the god, Guizhong would tell him upon her death to abandon any attempts to solve the mechanism.
Small Role, Big Impact: She's mostly mentioned through lore and item description, but it is thanks to her influence that Rex Lapis become the wise and knowledgeable god that Liyue knows today.
Taken for Granite: Cloud Retainer's story shows that she was transformed into stone upon her death, much like the deaths of other gods during that era of history.
True Blue Femininity: Guizhong was known as a kind and gentle goddess who sympathized with fragile humans and wanted to guide them with her wisdom, and prominently wears much blue in her clothing.

The Goddess of Salt

Havria

A goddess that once lived in the Sal Terrae region in northeastern Liyue. She used to ruled over a great kingdom in the west, but was slain long ago and her people scattered.

Broken Pedestal: She was decidedly not the powerful goddess Wanyan believed she was, nor was Rex Lapis the one to kill her. While she did care for her people, she was also very weak compared to other gods waging war with one another during the Archon Wars, and kept fleeing with her followers whenever the war came to their doorstep, until they were reduced to what is now Sal Terrae. This led to her own people striking her down rather than face inevitable destruction at the hands of the other gods, with the explosion of energy that followed her death turning everyone within its proximity to statues of salt. Wanyan cannot handle the Awful Truth and storms off, though Zhongli believes that she'll come to accept it sooner or later.
Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Her assassination by her own worshippers unleashed what was left of her power, turning whoever got caught in its blast into salt statues and leaving one hell of a grisly scene, with her subjects either running in terror or begging for mercy.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Her body exploded when she was killed, turning many of her followers into salt statues. When the party arrives at the room where she died, all that's left of her is a pile of salt.
Et Tu, Brute?: She was betrayed by her own people and killed. The truth is, her own people thought that better she die by their own hands than be brutalized by the Archon War.
Fisher King: Her health directly tied her kingdom together. When she died, Sal Terrae was reduced into ruins and a giant seal formed over the chamber where she died.
Flowers of Femininity: Customs of Liyue, Volume 2 explains that the wedding tradition of tossing a ball of flowers into a crowd originated with Havria, who offered her followers good-luck flowers during the Archon War to lift their spirits.
Load-Bearing Boss: When she was killed, it caused the destruction of her kingdom.
Mercy Kill: The real nature of her death. Instead of being killed by other gods, she was killed by her own people, who believed that it would be more merciful to end her now rather than have her suffer defeat and humiliation at the hands of another god. It backfired immensely.
Pacifism Backfire: Due to her lack of strength, not fighting was the only choice she had to survive against other gods, and her kindness was such that she refused to defend herself even when her own followers came to kill her. It didn't help her much.
Posthumous Character: Long dead before the beginning of the events of the game.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Following the names of other Archons which follows the demons of Ars Goetia, her name is the feminized variant of Havres, the alternative name of Flauros.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Havria was a kind and pure-hearted goddess who had the bad fortune to have lived during the time of the Archon War, and died because of it. Morax wishes she had lived in a better time.

God of the Stove (Unmarked Spoilers)

Marchosius / Guoba

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guoba.png

"Marchosius, God of the Stove, born from a spark when stone struck stone. He was a god with a great love for humanity and their well-being."

— Madame Ping

A god of fire worshipped by restaurants and taverns throughout Liyue since its founding. As a god of cooking, his tale becomes one of the focuses of the Moonchase Festival event in v2.1.

Originally the God of Soil, born "when stone struck stone", he sacrificed much of his power to forcibly quell a multitude of natural disasters that threatened Liyue around the end of Archon War. As his intellect and memories began to fade as a result, he proceeded to fall into a slumber in the mountains of Liyue. He awoke centuries later when a young Xiangling stumbled across his altar and placed an offering of Chilli-Mince Cornbread Buns. Deeply touched by the sense of nostalgia eating her food gave him, he has been following her around ever since.

All-Loving Hero: He was deeply compassionate towards humanity and did everything he could to support them, from lighting the first lamps in Liyue himself to feeding an entire town during a days long flood evacuation, and even giving up his own powers to save the lands long ago.
Amnesiac God: Infusing all his power back into the soil of Liyue has caused him to lose much of his intellect and memories of the past, though he still remembers his friendship with Morax and the other Adepti even if the details have long since been lost to him.
Animal Facial Hair: Despite being covered in fur, his statue depicts him with thicker fur around his cheeks, making it look like he has a great big bushy mustache.
Beary Friendly: A big, fuzzy looking bear with red fur and various mystic markings on his body who was the Adeptus closest to and most compassionate towards mortals.
Berserk Button: Don't waste food. Xiangling scolds Xingqiu for discarding his carrots into Chongyun's bowl, telling him that if Guoba saw him doing that, he would be super mad about it.
Bond Creatures: After he woke up following centuries of sleep and tried a young Xiangling's food, he was so moved by it he decided to follow them around permanently from then on.
Brought Down to Badass: Even in his diminished state as Guoba, it would be wrong to call him helpless. A particularly fierce Geovishap hatchling dubbed "Crystal Tornado" once attacked him, but not only did it fail to hurt Guoba, it was forced to retreat and recuperate from the injuries it received in the encounter. The encounter was so one-sided that Guoba doesn't even seem to remember it as an attack, as it greets the hatchling with a cheerful wave when it appears before him again.
Distinguishing Mark: The various fancy markings over his face and body are what distinguish him as a god rather than a regular animal.
Food God: He's a God of Cooking revered by chefs in Liyue.
Foreshadowing:
- Guoba being especially happy around Madame Ping and Xiao, Surprised when he sees Cloud Retainer appear, and visibly sad when Xiao disappears, suggests familiarity with them... which is then revealed to be precisely because he is their former colleague Marchosius, whose feelings for them remain even after his memories have been lost.
Giant Animal Worship: A building sized bear born from the sparks of the stones of Liyue hitting one another, that was worshiped by the region's citizens alongside various other Adepti.
Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrificed all his powers to save and protect the people of Liyue in the distant past. Although he isn't dead physically, Marchosius the Stove God passed and Guoba is born.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Despite his unusual coloring and markings making him visually similar to many of the other Adepti, it doesn't occur to the cast that Xiangling's pet bear Guoba could be the "God of the Stove" they spend so much of the Moonchase Festival trying to find out about.
Paimon: Guoba... Guoba is a GOD!?
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Subverted. A few characters note that his current form is a far cry from his glory days, and even speech is beyond his capacity. But as Madame Ping points out, there are two sides of everything, and while the former is true, it also allows his current form to enjoy the joys of life, free from his own burden and responsibility as the Stove God.
Ignorance Is Bliss: Madame Ping suggests his current reduced intelligence is perhaps a blessing in its own way, as Marchosius would have continued trying to sacrifice everything for the people of Liyue if he retained his former memories and intellect, rather than enjoying the land he helped create.
I Let You Win: Guoba serves as the final opponent of the "Arataki Blazing Armor Beetle Battle Boot Camp" and uses a Bloom Pruner to fight which proves quite a challenge. Upon being beaten though, it's revealed Guoba only had the Bloom Pruner's power set to point one percent. Even Itto realizes this means that he would have lost if Guoba had the Bloom Pruner fight at full force.
Intellectual Animal: He can understand humans and has a deep appreciation for cooking, but generally acts like an animal, going to sleep for centuries in a cave, having a gluttonous love of food, and generally lacking manners despite his friendly demeanor.
It Was with You All Along: The cast spends much of Moonchase trying to find out more about and awaken Marchosius, only to find out he's been walking around Liyue the whole time.
Madame Ping: Of course, the Stove God himself is not contained within the statue. Hehe, the true Stove God has been here with us all along.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: After siphoning his power into the land itself, he lost his godly powers, wits and memories of the past. As Guoba, when he encounters Zhongli, he doesn't remember him but retains the feeling of the friendship they had with each other such that he immediately approached Zhongli when he sees him walking down the street.
Me's a Crowd: Had the power to split himself into multiple child-sized copies, becoming an army of helpful deities that could provide for a whole town on their own.
Multiple-Choice Past: The God of the Stove is sometimes considered as nothing but an aspect of Morax, and sometimes worshipped as his own separate entity. The Moonchase Festival event reveals it is the latter, with the confusion due to Marchosius passing on all his knowledge to Morax and Madame Ping to continue to teach the people of Liyue about cooking and fire even after his memories faded completely.
Mundane Made Awesome: In the past, he tells Madame Ping that eating is a humble, yet a most profound affair. That to eat well is to consume vitality itself, to drink well is to partake of the very essence of the world, and no one can face the arduous journey ahead on an empty stomach.
Mythical Motifs: Marchosius is based on Zaojun, a mortal-turned-god of the kitchen in Chinese Mythology. His focus event, "Moonlight Merriment", was released on September 27, 2021, six days after the real-life Mid-Autumn Festival, which features lots of food (especially mooncakes) and is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the third day of which happens to be Zaojun's birthday.
Odd Job Gods: A god of hearths and cooking, rather than of grand concepts like freedom, contracts, or eternity. This does, at least, have a basis in reality, as Chinese Mythology also has a "kitchen god".
Olympus Mons: Xiangling's pet bear Guoba that she summons for her elemental skill? Yeah, he's a millennia old god who helped found Liyue.
Passing the Torch: A downplayed version. After his memories began to fade from using all his power to purify the soil of Liyue, he told all his secrets about cooking and the flame to Madame Ping and Morax, to pass them on to new generations, so they could carry on his role after he became a fully Amnesiac God. This is partly why some Liyue texts conflate the Stove God with Morax, as the latter would go on to teach the wisdom of cooking to Liyue people on the former's behalf.
Really 700 Years Old: He predates the founding of Liyue millennia ago, though his current small size and reduced intelligence would make most think he's a child.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Same as most of Genshin's other gods, he shares his name with a demon from the Ars Goetia.
Retired Badass: One of the gods of Liyue who made it out of the Archon War, who now spends his days simply enjoying himself with what's left of his former faculties.
Sleep-Mode Size: After infusing the majority of his power back into the lands of Liyue, he was reduced from a towering giant to the size of a child.
Tomato in the Mirror: Guoba himself is just as surprised over the revelation of his past as the Traveler, Paimon, Keqing and Xiangling, due to a case of Laser-Guided Amnesia after infusing his powers back into the land centuries ago.
Tomato Surprise: Madame Ping, Morax and the other Adepti know exactly who and where Marchosius is from the start (i.e. right next to Xiangling), it's only the audience and the protagonists who are in the dark until the tail end of the quest to find out about him.
The Unintelligible: As relinquishing his power includes giving up his capacity for speech, he is reduced to talking in gibberish the few times he speaks.

Overlord of the Vortex

Osial

An ancient god that was defeated by Rex Lapis in the Archon War.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Takes the form of a giant five-headed sea serpent made of water. Each head reaches from sea level all the way into the sky.
Background Boss: The player cannot fight Osial directly at the climax of Chapter I Act III, who hangs out far in the background and bombards the arena from afar. Instead, the player has to defend the various ballistae attacking Osial from an encroaching horde of Fatui.
Colony Drop: Was defeated and sealed this way by Rex Lapis in the past. And later on using Ningguang's Jade Chamber when its fetters were undone by Tartaglia.
God Couple: He is Beisht's husband.
Making a Splash: Has power over water, and attacks by bombarding the battlefield with blasts of water from the sky.
Portmanteau: Rather oddly, Osial's name is a combination of two demons from the Ars Goetia rather than just one. These demons are Ose and Belial.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Like most of the other gods (and Paimon), his name is taken from the Ars Goetia. Unusually, however, his name is a portmanteau for two demons in the Ars Goetia — Ose and Belial.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Was pinned under Guyun Stone Forest by the stone spears of Rex Lapis. When Childe breaks the seal temporarily, Osial immediately attacks Liyue Harbor.
Unwilling Roboticisation: In "We Will Be Reunited", the Traveler and Dainsleif discover that the Abyss Order was planning to fuse Osial's limbs with the technology of the Ruin Guards in order to turn it into a mechanized god that would be capable of destroying Celestia, using a defiled Statue of the Seven and a core from the very first Ruin Guard as a potential power source. Ultimately averted as the Traveler and Dainsleif thwart the Abyss Order's plan before they can put it into action.
Weather Manipulation: Upon awakening after being freed by Childe, Osial's first act of war against Liyue Harbor is to completely obscure the entire sky with black clouds (except for one spot above his many heads) and the evocation of rains and winds.

Inazuma

The Thunderbird

Kanna Kapatcir

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thunderbird_story_teaser.png

A bird-like spirit who went on a destructive rampage across the islands of Tsurumi and Seirai, where the Raiden Shogun eventually put her down. Her tale is featured in the "Through the Mists" World Quest series added in v2.2.

Foreshadowing: Her story is told as early as the lore of the "Thundering Fury" artifact set, which was part of the v1.0 lineup. It wasn't until v2.2, however, when her story is explored in full.
Giant Animal Worship: The people of Tsurumi ago worshiped her as their god, believing she brought the rains. Kanna herself was largely unaware of their devotion.
Giant Flyer: To put things in perspective, Seirei Island is implied to have been dramatically reshaped by Kanna Kapatcir's body crashing on it after she was killed by the Raiden Shogun.
Identical Stranger: For one reason or another, she looks like Fischl's Oz—or perhaps, Oz looks like her.
Identity Amnesia: She claimed that she had long since forgotten her real name, or the person who gave her that name; "Kanna Kapatcir" was given to her by Ruu.
Madden Into Misanthropy: Originally, Kanna Kapatcir was indifferent at best to the people of Tsurumi. Then they sacrificed her new friend Ruu, and she flew into an island-destroying rampage. Her wrath lives on to this day in the form of the Thunder Manifestation in Seirai.
Meaningful Name: In the sacred language of Tsurumi, Kapatcir meant "Great Eagle of the Storm". In the real-world Ainu language, it means "high eagle".
Mutually Unequal Relation: The people of Tsurumi thought of her as their goddess, saw her actions as either blessings or curses, and worshiped her, even performing Human Sacrifice for her. She's largely indifferent towards them, but she was fascinated by the song of Ruu. And then Ruu was sacrificed because they, Ruu included, thought it's for the good of the island. She was enraged because this meant she can never hear the boy's singing voice again, and thus she destroyed and cursed the island, causing its ley lines to mutate abnormally and creating the "Groundhog Day" Loop on the island.
Mythical Motifs: She is based on Kanna Kamuy, god of thunder and the heavens in Ainu mythology.
Poor Communication Kills:
- Her indifference to the people of Tsurumi and ignorance of their reverence meant that they had no idea what she actually wanted, leading to them performing human sacrifice in her name. When they sacrificed Ruu, she flew into a grief-filled rage and wrought havoc the island before cursing it to relive its crime and punishment over and over until Ruu fulfilled his promise to sing to her once again.
- One of the reasons Ruu was so willing to sacrifice himself to Kanna Kapatcir was because she admitted to him that, as a deity, she thought little of humans and would likely forget about Ruu and his promise to sing to her very quickly. As it turns out, she did keep on remembering, and ended up taking Ruu's promise to her very seriously.
Purple Is Powerful: Appropriately for a Thunderbird whose power was great enough to destroy Serai Island and mutate the leylines on it, Kanna Kapatcir was a giant purple bird.
Thunderbird: As her name implies, she was a massive bird that controlled lightning and storms.
Tragic Keepsake: When she declined to give Ruu her name, Ruu named her "Kanna Kapatcir," to which she seemingly reacted to with indifference before flying off. However, when she discovered that Ruu had been sacrificed, she declared herself Kanna Kapatcir before destroying and cursing the island.
Tsundere: She had shades of this in her interactions with Ruu, claiming she was indifferent to his name for her and pretending she would soon forget his promise to her to finish his song to her. It turns out her attitude was vastly different than what she let on; when the people of Tsurumi Island sacrificed Ruu in a misguided attempt to appease her, she instead went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, declaring herself Kanna Kapatcir, cursing the islanders to an eternity of torment, and rampaging in grief to the point where even after the Raiden Shogun killed her, her rage manifested into a pure being of Electro.

The Watatsumi Omikami

Orobashi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/09a80e43_d573_4906_b4ab_0bde608e310c.jpeg

A massive, serpent-like god worshipped by the people of Watatsumi Island, slain by the Raiden Shogun on Yashiori Island after it attacked her dominions, an act which lay at the root of centuries-old tensions between Watatsumi and the Shogunate. Its skeletal remains are littered throughout the island, which is bisected by the Musoujin Gorge, created by the Musou no Hitotachi, the Shogun's fabled sword technique used to slay it.

Ambiguous Gender: Orobashi is only ever referred to with it/its pronouns in-game. It is unclear whether those pronouns reflect Orobashi's actual gender identity or if it's a case of It Is Dehumanising.
Ambiguously Evil: Orobashi was said to have saved the Enkanomiyans from the depths of the ocean and returned them to the surface, taught them to survive and thrive, and to the present day is still worshipped by their descendants at Watatsumi. It was also said to have waged a brutal war against the Shogunate with seemingly no provocation, and the Tatarigami originating from its death continues to plague Yashiori. Documents found deep within Enkanomiya reveal the truth that Orobashi only started the war as an elaborate suicide on orders from Celestia, as otherwise its people would have starved to death.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Its skeletal remains are absolutely massive, huge enough to become a majority of Yashiori's landscape. It also created the entirety of Watatsumi using pieces of coral broken off of its body.
The Atoner: The in-game book A Preliminary Study of Sangonomiya Folk Belief claims that Orobashi's death at the hands of the Raiden Shogun was a Suicide by Cop to atone for having not fought in the Archon Wars.
Connected All Along: Flavour Text of the catalyst Oathsworn Eye reveals that Orobashi had fled south from Liyue to Inazuma during the Archon Wars after being unable to best Deus Auri, aka Rex Lapis.
Cowardly Lion: Orobashi is described as a coward who fled from the Archon Wars and found itself in Enkanomiya as a result. However, when its people were starving, it chose to die with dignity by provoking the Raiden Shogun into killing it, knowing it stood no chance against her.
Face Death with Dignity: Orobashi knew it stood no chance against the Raiden Shogun, but nonetheless fought to attempt to grant its people relief from a famine.
God Is Flawed: Orobashi was a friendly god to the people of Watatsumi and blamed itself for hardships that its people faced. However, it is also described as a coward who fled rather than fighting in the Archon Wars, which it may have been punished by Celestia for. This is only a cover story, as Orobashi was really exiled and eventually killed for accidentally gaining knowledge Celestia had labeled as taboo. It later sacrificed itself for its people, making it closer to God Is Good.
The Great Serpent: It is one of his titles, and his enormous size can be observed from his skeletal remains scattered around Yashiroi island.
He Knows Too Much: Records found in Enkanomiya reveal that Orobashi was condemned to death by Celestia as punishment for accidentally learning about a time before the gods walked Teyvat. "Enjou" speculates that the real reason it had to throw its life away was so that its people could live as humans once again.
Inconsistent Spelling: Its name, as remembered by Inazuma, is spelled interchangeably as "Orobashi" or "Orobaxi".
Inspirational Martyr: It has become one for the people of Watatsumi, many who see themselves as being unfairly ruled by the Raiden Shogun and desire independence from the rest of Inazuma.
It's All My Fault: Orobashi blamed itself for the suffering and famine its people went through before their invasion of Inazuma.
Mystical Plague: Following its death, its lingering grudge and power festered around Yashiori in the form of a malevolent corrupting force with disease-like traits called the Tatarigami, which can inflict serious health defects, madness, and eventually death to anyone who sets foot on the island. Initially, this was contained in special wards found across the island, but, according to some notes found on the island, some of its fanatic worshippers within the Sangonomiya Resistance destroyed the wards behind Kokomi's back under the advice of their foreign ally Nathan (who is later exposed as a Fatui saboteur), causing the Tatarigami to reemerge and infect many of the inhabitants in Higi Village and Jakotsu Mine. Not even the Shogunate Army are safe from this. The only way to vanquish it for good is by clearing the "Orobashi's Legacy" World Quest series, but even that doesn't cure the ones who are infected before the wards holding it was fixed.
Mythical Motifs: Orobashi is based on two serpentine/draconic entities from Japanese Mythology, Yamata no Orochi and Ryujin/Watatsumi.
- Like the former, Orobashi was slain by a god (i.e., the former by Susanoo, god of storms; the latter, by the Raiden Shogun, the Electro Archon). The difference is that whereas Orochi was a malevolent entity that terrorized the land, Orobashi deliberately provoked the Raiden Shogun by attacking Narukami as an elaborate attempt at suicide on orders from Celestia lest its people starve to death.
- Ryujin/Watatsumi is a deity of the ocean, and Ryujin was also considered to be the patron god of lightning and rain. He was said to live in Ryūgū-jō, an underwater palace made of coral and jewels, from which Watatsumi derives its aesthetic.
Odd Name Out: Unlike most Inazuma characters, Orobashi's Japanese name is spelled in katakana rather than kanji. As spelling names in katakana is usually reserved for foreigners, this is likely because it technically is a foreigner to Inazuma, as it was neither a servant or ally to Raiden Shogun and it lived long before Watatsumi Island was annexed into Inazuma.
Posthumous Character: Orobashi is long dead by the time of the main story. However, it still played a role in several of Inazuma's World Quests, with the Tatarigami being the leftovers of its power that continues to corrupt and kill people after the wards that sealed it was broken.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Just like the Archons, Orobashi was named after a demon from Ars Goetia, Orobas, while doubling as a reference to Yamata no Orochi.
Snakes Are Sinister: It is first encountered as the skeletal remains of a giant serpent, slain by the Raiden Shogun for attacking Inazuma, and whose hatred manifests as a plague centuries later. This ends up subverted, as the people of Sangonomiya remember it as a kind god which the player later learns is much more accurate.
Suicide by Cop: Orobashi's war with the Shogunate and subsequent death at Ei's hands turned out to be an elaborate suicide gambit after it was condemned to death by Celestia for accidentally coming across secrets Celestia had put a taboo on.
Wise Serpent: The people of Watatsumi worship him for teaching them how to farm and smelt, and he also taught the Enkanomiyans Inazuman language and culture to prepare them for assimilation.

Sumeru

The Goddess of Flowers

Nabu Malikata

A friend of Rukkhadevata and beloved of Deshret. Her dance for the former is the origin of the Sabzeruz Festival.

The Alcoholic: Implied. The Jinn are said to be created from her bitter memories of loss, and she is described providing pleasure and wine to the exiled, manic and foolish, which means that it is highly probable that she drinks her pain away just like her worshippers.
Cassandra Truth: Zigzagged. Nabu Malikata warned King Deshret not to pursue Forbidden Knowledge, but he remained determined despite knowing it would likely lead to ruin as he wanted to make a better world for humanity. Upon seeing his resolve, Nabu Malikata was amused and decided to follow him even knowing she would die doing so.
Death Seeker: Possibly. The description for the "Oasis Garden's Truth" weapon material supposedly details a belief of hers that flowers blossom so as to die a spectacular death, and that she accordingly pursued such an end for herself so as to add a bitterness to her memory that would grow with time.
Due to the Dead: A variant; the padisarahs that currently exist in Sumeru are a memento to the Goddess of Flowers' memory, created by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
Escapism: According to the Oasis Garden weapon ascension materials and Liloupar's dialogue, she was a protector of "maddened monks and lost wanderers", and would provide them with wine and dance to escape pain.
Fertile Feet: It was said that padisarahs bloomed from the ground she danced on.
Fertile Blood: The Jinn were born from the water lilies in the gardens that grew from the springs that gushed out of her wounds when she wandered the barren wastes after presumably falling from the heavens.
Flower Motifs: The padisarah, which were said to bloom at her feet whenever she dances. Nowadays, authentic, violet padisarahs are extinct just like her, the paler padisarahs found in the wild being little more than Rukkhadevata's admittedly inferior attempts at honoring her memory.
Flowers of Femininity: Was a female goddess who could create Padisarahs.
Given Name Reveal: Her true name is revealed to be Nabu Malikata.
God Couple: She was Deshret's lover, though it is unclear whether she reciprocated his feelings.
The Heart: Implied. As far as is recorded in legends, she was friends with both Rukkhadevata and Deshret while they were still on friendly terms, but after her death the latter sank into grief and depravity while former left him. According to Liloupar however, Rukkhadevata actually left because her heart was broken by Nabu Malikata's ideals.
Horned Humanoid: Implied, as Nilou's horned headdress is modelled after her.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Seelies as a whole were punished with depowering and amnesia for an unknown sin, leaving Nabu Malikata wandering the desert for months and creating the Jinn species and the desert's rivers from her wounds.
Last of Her Kind: In the "For the Children of the Past" World Quest, Arama claims that there was a survivor of the seelie race who once dwelled in the desert, becoming friends with both Queen Aranyani and the ruler of Valuka. As both names are the Aranara's terms for, respectively, Rukkhadevata and Deshret, this implies that she was a seelie before becoming a goddess.
The Lost Lenore: Is this to the Scarlet King, with her death resulting in the break up of the friendship between Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and him as well as him trying in vain to find a cure for her revival, which subsequently led his kingdom to ruin.
Love Interest: Of Deshret.
Meaningful Name: "Malikata" is taken from the ideogram of the Middle Persian word for queen, MLKTA.
Mirror Character: The Goddess of Flowers and Guizhong were both extremely close to their local male god (King Deshret and Rex Lapis respectively) to the point where they co-founded and co-ruled a city together, were The Heart of their respective social groups, and were associated with flowers that disappeared after their deaths. However, the Goddess of Flowers' death caused King Deshret to bring death and destruction upon his people, his civilisation and himself that his people never quite recovered from in the present day, while Guizhong's influence spurred Rex Lapis to become a better and wiser ruler, allowing their people to thrive to the present day even in her absence.
Never Found the Body: The Dirge of Bilqis questline reveals her supposed resting place is empty.
Posthumous Character: Just like the other gods of Sumeru, she is long dead.
Power Trio: Was one of the God-Kings of Sumeru alongside Deshret and Rukkhadevata.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Her first name, Nabu, comes from the ancient Mesopotamian god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom.
Seers: Nabu Malikata was a powerful seer, witnessing the Cataclysm long before it took place.
Truly Single Parent: The Jinn were born from the water lilies that grew from her blood, and she also created the Khvarena, whom she called her daughter.
Two Girls and a Guy: Was one of the female goddesses in the ancient trio of the God-Kings of Sumeru.

The Scarlet King

Deshret / Amun

The deceased patron god of the desert-dwellers of the Great Red Sand, who had a complicated relationship with Rukkhadevata.

Assimilation Plot: The Golden Slumber that he built envelops and merges the consciousness of anyone trapped in it with the rest of its victims to become one. The in-game book The Lay of Al-Ahmar also mentions that "his soul merged into one with the wailing souls of the millions in his kingdom" though it is unclear how accurate it is.
Color Motifs: Deshret is primarily associated with the red of the vast desert where he once ruled, evidenced by his Eremite worshippers prominently wearing red in their outfits and his color-themed naming (see Meaningful Name, below).
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Celestia attempted to make him the Dendro Archon. Not only did he refuse the position, he refused to step down as the god of the desert either, ruling alongside their second choice Rukkhadevata for centuries before sacrificing himself to save his people after attempting to learn Forbidden Knowledge to one day overthrow Celestia.
Divine Punishment: Punished the Jinni queen of Gurabad Liloupar for orchestrating the downfall of her city and causing the deaths of hundreds of her citizens by splitting her soul into seven parts and imprisoning them in different locations around the desert.
Divine Parentage: Candace is said to be his descendant and she inherited her amber eye from him. In truth it's simply a white lie that the Aaru Village guardians spread to make their job easier.
Et Tu, Brute?: His worshippers believe that he was betrayed by Rukkhadevata, who stole his position as God of Wisdom, covering up the truth with help from the Akademiya. The Fourth Act of the Sumeru Archon Quest, however, subverts this, when it is revealed that not only has Rukkhadevata never betrayed him, but she also helped him and his people contain the Forbidden Knowledge he accidentally unleashed.
Eat Me: To contain the spread of the Forbidden Knowledge he had unleashed, he tricked Apep into consuming his corpse.
Gadgeteer Genius: Implied. The civilization he founded and ruled over was highly technologically advanced, with remnants of its technology still visible in modern-day Sumeru, the majority of it still perfectly functional.
God Couple: He was the lover of the Goddess of Flowers.
God-Emperor: Of Ay-Khanoum, the city that he built with the Goddess of Flowers.
God Is Flawed: The Dirge of Bilqis questline depicts him as a flawed god who lied to the Jinni about being able to bring back The Goddess of Flowers and used their power under this guise. He also brought Forbidden Knowledge into the world. However, he also deeply cared for his people, and didn't hesitate to give his life for their sakes to try to stop them from dying of Eleazar.
Heroic Sacrifice: He realized the error of his ways when his people began to die of Eleazar, and when it began to overwhelm Rukkhadevata's countermeasures he gave up his life to try to remove the Forbidden Knowledge that was causing it.
The Idealist: Deshret had a grand dream of creating a paradise that transcends the Heavenly Principles, so much so that he managed to convince the Goddess of Flowers to join him in his secret rebellion.
I Have Many Names: He is referred to as Deshret, The Scarlet King, Al-Ahmar, and Amun depending on the source.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Implied. Deshret was the rightful ruler of Sumeru, even offered a gnosis by Celestia without a fight, but he chose to instead share his throne with Rukkhadevata and Nabu Malikata and rejected Archonhood. After parting ways with Rukkhadevata and losing Nabu Malikata, he became obsessed with finding immortality and creating a paradise, only to realize that in the end, he only wished to return to a time when the three of them ruled Sumeru together as friends.
Meaningful Name: Deshret (Ancient Egyptian dšrt, "red one") is the formal name both for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt (which covers the Nile Delta from modern-day Cairo to Alexandria) and the dry Red Land on either side of Kemet, the fertile "black land" of the Nile River basin, from whence the term "desert" was derived. By extension, Deshret's association with the color red is reflected on his titles, such as "Scarlet King" and "al-Ahmar" (اَلْأَحْمَر, Arabic for "red one").
Posthumous Character: He died at least a thousand years ago, though his followers believe he will be reincarnated.
Power Trio: Was one of the God-Kings of Sumeru alongside Nabu Malikata and Rukkhadevata.
Redemption Equals Death: He was the one that brought into the world the Forbidden Knowledge that causes both Eleazar and the Withering. When Rukkhadevata's countermeasures against it began to fail, he sacrificed himself in an attempt to destroy the Forbidden Knowledge once and for all.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Deshret's other name, Amun, not only corresponds to a demon from the Ars Goetia, but that demon itself is also derived from an Egyptian god of the same name.
Staff of Authority: The Staff of the Scarlet Sands (or more accurately the pair of them) is implied to have once belonged to him as their Flavour Text states that they "grant the right to lead the people of the desert", and their accompanying lore is also told from his point-of-view. The Lay of Al-Ahmar also mentions him wielding a staff.
Start of Darkness: The death of the Goddess of Flowers drove him mad from grief, dooming both himself and his city as he became obsessed with immortality.
Starter Villain: Not him, but the incursion of Forbidden Knowledge he brought down upon his people was this for Rukkhadevata. While a terrible and unnecessary tragedy, the experience Rukkhadevata gained from fighting it alongside her old friend was critical when a far more severe incursion occurred during the Cataclysm, which not only saved her a considerable amount of time when finding a solution but also gave her hope that it could be fought at all; her lingering consciousness admitting to Kusanali that she would otherwise have given into despair at the state of Irminsul at the time.
Swallowed Whole: Apep allowed Deshret to build his kingdom on the condition that she be allowed to do this to him when he died.
Tragic Dream: While Deshret started out as an idealistic and kind god, it was his grand dreams of creating a paradise that transcended the Heavenly Principles that ended up driving everything he held dear to ruin: his friendship with Rukkhadevata, the life of the Goddess of Flowers, and finally his civilization and people as he went mad from grief and isolation in the pursuit of his paradise and immortality. At the end of his life, Deshret realized that what he sought so strongly in the end was not a paradise or an eternal life, but to return to when he ruled over Sumeru with Rukkhadevata and Nabu Malikata.
Two Girls and a Guy: Is the only guy in the trio of the ancient God-Kings of Sumeru.
Unperson: Among the Aranara. Not so much because they were intentionally trying to bury his existence, rather it's because they shunned all stories of "Valuka," as they knew his kingdom, following the Cataclysm to the point where they've almost forgotten that the desert even had a ruler. 3.1 reveals that he is the one who brought Forbidden Knowledge into the world, "crazed whispers" which inflict humans with Eleazar and the natural world with the Withering, which matches the Aranara's description of how Marana operates. Trying to forget him may have been intentional after all.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: From what is known about him, Deshret was a brilliant and benevolent god-king, and even centuries after his death much of his technology still functions and he still has a fervent following among his people. Unfortunately, his pursuit of immortality accidentally brought death upon his land and people in the form of what the Aranara know as Marana, Forbidden Knowledge that brings "crazed whispers" to living things and pushes them towards death, which manifests as Eleazar in humans and as the Withering in the landscape. Rukkhadevata had to intervene in the initial outbreak, and when it broke out once again he attempted to correct his mistake with his own life. That said, it's unclear how truly unwitting he was; the descriptions for the Flower of Paradise Lost set reveals that he actually knew that the road he was walking would doom him and his people, but did so anyway in an attempt to give humanity the chance to break free of Celestia's rule. Whether or not he truly intended for this particular disaster to take place, he took that secret with him to his grave.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to the Flower of Paradise Lost set, Deshret's true aim was to secretly rebel against Celestia, knowing that doing so would end in ruin for himself and his people. Whether or not he suspected that end would be brought about as a result of Forbidden Knowledge is unclear.
We Used to Be Friends: With Rukkhadevata. After the Goddess of Flowers died, he began a vain attempt to pursue immortality, whereupon Rukkhadevata left him and created Sumeru's rainforest before eventually becoming one of The Seven. Members of Ayn al-Ahmar blame Rukkhadevata for this reversal of fortune, accusing her of betraying him and stealing his title of "God of Wisdom." In truth, while they did grow estranged, their friendship did not deteriorate so as to keep Rukkhadevata from helping Deshret when the Forbidden Knowledge he brought to his people nearly destroyed them, and when the curse resurfaced both of them gave everything they had in an attempt to stop it it once and for all, which culminated in Deshret's sacrifice and Rukkhadevata expending so much of her strength and memory that her body turned child-like.

Khvarena

Khvarena/Simurgh, the Divine Bird

A divine creature born from Nabu Malikata to aid in sealing away the Abyss during the Cataclysm.

Fling a Light into the Future: The purpose of her existence. Nabu Malikata created Khvarena to aid her friend Lord Rukkhadevata seal away the Abyss during the Cataclysm. The way Nabu Malikata created her also evokes Rukkhadevata later creating Nahida, suggesting Rukkhadevata may have been inspired by Khvarena's creation.
Small Role, Big Impact: She was created as a Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb to seal away the Abyss during the Cataclysm. This act not only stopped the Abyss' incursion into Teyvat, but created the Pari race and may have inspired Rukkhadevata to create Nahida to attempt to purify Irminsul of Forbidden Knowledge.

Fontaine

The God King of Remuria

Remus, King of All Under Heaven

The God King of Remuria, a kingdom that spanned across all of Fontaine before it was destroyed and sunk into the Abyss.

Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear as to whether Remus was once an Archon. Egeria, the Hydro Archon before Focalors, was overthrown by him and was only able to assume control again after he died, making it likely he was once the ruling Archon of Fontaine. However, there is no mention of him possessing the Hydro Gnosis and his power is said to have come from a cup of Primordial Seawater given to him by either the Hydro Sovereign or the Primordial One himself.
Assimilation Plot: The description of the Essence of Pure Sacred Dewdrop explains that Remus tried to save his people from their prophesized destruction by assimilating them all into Golden Ichor.
The Caligula: While he started as The Good King, later in his reign Remus' mind snapped upon hearing of the prophesied destruction of Remuria and first tried making perfect music to Celestia, then tried to assimilate all his people into Golden Ichor. He woke up from his madness upon his kingdom being destroyed by the Abyss, but it was too little too late. It turns out this was untrue, and his Harmost Boethius betrayed him and issued tyrannical decrees in his stead.
City of Gold: The kingdom he founded, Remuria, was a city of seemingly unparalleled wealth, described as overflowing with gold, jewels, and spices.
Deadly Upgrade: One of his greatest "sins" was sharing his divine power with four of his most trusted confidants, who became his Harmosts. This act in particular seems to have either invited Celestia's ire or the power of the Abyss itself to destroy his kingdom.
Despair Event Horizon: Hearing about the impending doom of Remuria caused him to go mad in despair.
The Engineer: Remus singlehandedly ushered in an era of unprecedented technological advancement in Remuria.
Evil Colonialist: Downplayed. Remus sought to unite all lands under his rule to be saved from the prophecy. When peoples refused Remuria's diplomatic requests, Remuria would conquer the "barbarian tribes" by force. That being said, he was trying to save said people from being completely destroyed by a flood and his rule was said to be fair and reasonable.
Friendly Enemy: While he took over from Egeria and forcibly conquered her people to assimilate them, neither held any animosity towards one another and Remus sometimes consulted Egeria from her prison.
God-Emperor: He ruled over the Kingdom of Remuria as a god.
God Is Flawed: Remus was instrumental in providing for the scattered people in the lands that would become Fontaine and in helping them lead fair lives. Humanity in the region made massive cultural progress during his reign, and even the Primordial Vishap of Water submitted to Remus' authority. However, according to The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria, he foolishly tried to avert his kingdom's prophesied destruction by singing praises to Celestia and attempted to save his people by assimilating them all into the Golden Ichor and pouring it into the bodies of golems, causing the dragon prince Scylla to attack Remuria and ultimately plunging it into the Abyss. It turns out Remus was The Good King and most of "his" tyrannical decrees were really issued by Boethius while he was asleep.
Lord of the Ocean: As the god who ruled over Fontaine, he was one.
Mirror Character:
- To the Scarlet King. Both Remus and the Scarlet King were powerful gods who ruled over a portion of their respective landmasses. Both began an Assimilation Plot and ended up accidentally bringing ruin to their kingdoms when they encountered the power of the Abyss. However, while The Scarlet King was driven through a desire to rebel against Celestia for the sake of humanity, Remus seems to have been obedient in his praise of Celesia (and may have been told to take over by Celestia) yet was punished anyways through a prophecy that said his kingdom would fall and lost his sanity after being told of this prophecy. It turns out that they were even more similar than it initially seemed; Remus was originally from Sumeru and lived in the area between the Great Red Sands and the mountains until Deshret conquered his country. Refusing to serve him, Remus chose to go to the sea area that would later become his kingdom and similarly attempted to free his people from Celestia's power through the use of magical music.
- To Orobashi. Both Remus and Orobashi were exiles who fled from warfare in their initial lands and came to rule over a different group than they began as gods of. But while Orobashi accidentally came into knowledge forbidden by Celestia and was forced to commit Suicide by Cop to save his people and assimilate them into Watatsumi, Remus attempted to Screw Destiny and save his people from The Prophecy by giving them immortal bodies and using music to free them under the guise of singing praise to Celestia, but was betrayed by Boethius and had his kingdom destroyed and his people refuse to assimilate with the rest of the Fontainians, leading to them losing their minds trapped under the ocean.
Musical Assassin: Remus was said to have had a harp that he used to channel his power and sing praise to Celestia with. He also created the giant conch instruments the Melusines sometimes play.
My God, What Have I Done?: He realized he made a horrible mistake attempting to assimilate his people into the Golden Ichor and rescinded the order, but his kingdom was already being consumed by the power of the Abyss and fell soon after.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Remus overthrew Egeria and took over ruling from her after she turned the Oceanids into humans against Celestia's wishes. He then dedicated praises to Celestia and begged for forgiveness for his people. Despite this, Celestia refused to spare the people of Fontaine from the prophecy. The injustice of this drove Remus mad and made him attempt to save Fontaine's people through an Assimilation Plot.
Screw Destiny: Much like the Scarlet King, his ultimate goal was to avert Celestia's prophecy that would destroy the people of Fontaine by returning their bodies into water and giving them stone bodies that couldn't be washed away by the floods. He was also trying to avert his own prophesized demise as well, remarking that he would have a better chance at it as god of Remuria.
The Usurper: He overthrew and imprisoned Egeria and took over ruling Fontaine in her stead. Whether the Hydro Sovereign at the time or The Primordial One allowed him to do this is unclear, but one or the other supported him.
War God: Much like the Raiden Shogun, he became a god of Fontaine through conquest, taking control of Fontaine from the "barbarians" around it. It turns out Remus was opposed to forcing people to join them, but he was betrayed by one of his trusted Harmosts, who encouraged forcing Fontainians to be converted into Golden Ichor.

The Descenders (Unmarked Spoilers for the entire section!)

Four mysterious entities with the will to challenge the world.

In General

Ambiguous Situation: Alice and Nicole Reeyn of the Hexenzirkel seem to have Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory not unlike that of The Traveler. Whether this is because they are omniscient hundreds of years old witches or unidentified Descenders is unknown.
Non-Indicative Name: While the three Descenders that have more than a few lines of information from Skirk we know of are from beyond Teyvat, the Narzissenkreuz Ordo's research implies that you don't need to be from beyond Teyvat to be a Descender, just that you need a "will to rival the world". What that means exactly is unclear, but it does explain why The Traveler's sibling and Aloy aren't counted among the Descenders despite having come from other worlds.
Outside-Context Problem: There is no real way to predict when a Descender will come, just that when they do come they completely upend the status quo of Teyvat, such as The Primordial One defeating the Dragon Sovereigns and The Traveler's actions allowing for things such as Neuvillette's authority being returned and Liyue being ruled by humans.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: They are immune to changes in Irminsul.
Walking Spoiler: Each of the Descenders are key figures behind the entire modern day conflict between Celestia, the Abyss, and the Fatui.

The First Descender

The Heavenly Principles (allegedly)

The entity that warred with the Seven Sovereigns and colonised Teyvat to bring humans into existence, which many theorists (out of universe) believe to be the Primordial One. Find their entry in the Celestia section above.

The Second Who Came (Unmarked Spoilers!)

The Second Who Came

A mysterious entity that came into conflict with the Primordial One's established order, forever changing Teyvat.

All There in the Manual: Though the concept of Descenders was only introduced at the end of the Sumeru Archon Quest, they were actually first mentioned much earlier in Before Sun and Moon, the forbidden record of Teyvatian prehistory found in Enkanomiya that Orobashi accidentally read (and for which Celestia condemned it to ritual suicide). They are mentioned again in the description for the Flower of Paradise Lost set, in which Nabu Malikata told King Deshret about that prehistoric conflict to help him with his plan to secretly rebel against Celestia.
Ambiguous Situation: The "Sinner" imprisoned in the Chasm seems to have not come from the world of Teyvat and identifies itself as an enemy of the Divine, making it possible it is the Second Who Came. However, the story has not stated they are one and the same.
Greater-Scope Villain: As recounted by Before Sun and Moon, their descent upon Teyvat reignited war on the surface. In the description for the Flower of Paradise Lost artifact set, Nabu Malikata recounted how the chaos and suffering they brought to Teyvat weakened the Primordial One's grip upon the land, to which it responded by dropping the Skyfrost Nails and other similar structures onto Teyvat. Whatever their intentions, their actions planted the seeds for both the tyranny of the Heavenly Principles, and the many, many destructive attempts by both gods and mortals to free Teyvat from the Principles.
Un-person: Irminsul does not record anything about the Descenders, and removal of information therefrom alters all directly corresponding evidence pertaining to it, such as memories and written records, so that the deleted information is no longer mentioned, essentially erasing them from history. This makes Before Sun and Moon stand out even more, as it is a written record that mentions two different Descenders, not to mention the testimony of Nabu Malikata as the remaining witnesses of what the Second Descender did, and how the Primordial One responded. Between Orobashi being ordered to commit suicide for reading the former, and Seelies being purged following the conflict with the Second Descender, it stands to reason that knowledge about the Second Descender, as a prominent common denominator known to both Orobashi and the Seelies, is completely forbidden by Celestia.

The Third Descender

A mysterious entity that arrived in Teyvat and died under unknown circumstances.

Curse: Skirk implies that the Gnosis are "cursed" objects that bring misfortune, as a result of being made from the Descender's corpse.
Dead All Along: It turns out that the third Descender was already killed before the events of the game and their remains were turned into the Gnosis used by the Seven, implying that they were killed before the Archon War 2000 years in the past.
Dismantled MacGuffin: The seven Gnosis were forged from their remains, which raises the question of what the Tsaritsa plans to do with them once all seven have been collected.
Driving Question: Who was the Third Descender and how did they die? Skirk admits that she has no idea, but promises to consult her master to see if she can find out more. The Traveler is likewise disturbed by the implications that their predecessor was used to create the Gnosis, and what this might mean for them.
Pieces of God: Celestia used their corpse to create the seven Gnosis, taking advantage of their elemental affinities.

The Fourth Descender

The Traveler / The Fourth Descender

The Player Character of Genshin Impact who travels through Teyvat searching for their lost sibling, uniting the wills of the people they met and perfoming heroic exploits along the way. Find their entry here.

The Seven Sovereigns

Seven Dragons who used to rule Teyvat before the appearance of the Primordial One. After forty years of battle, the Sovereigns were vanquished and their people fled to the deep, hidden, and forgotten parts of the world. According to research found in Ekanomiya, even though their bodies were destroyed, their elemental spirits have been slowly reconstituting and inevitably all of them will be reborn in new forms.

In General

Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Sovereigns and vishap-kind have a completely different set of values compared to the Archons and humankind, which makes it hard for the two races and their guardian deities to find common ground. There have been many earnest attempts to do so over Teyvat's history, but this fundamental rift in understanding, combined with the fact Celestia is the invader in this scenario, means relations will almost inevitably break down at some point.
Boss Battle: So far, three of the four known Sovereigns are part of weekly boss battles. Notably, while the reborn Sovereigns of Dvalin and Azhdaha are fought themselves, you instead fight the Warden of Apep's Oasis rather than Apep itself. Given that a mere creation of Apep is strong enough to stand on the same power level as the reborn Sovereigns, this suggest that Apep, the original Dendro Sovereign, is far more powerful than its counterparts.
Breaking Old Trends: While three of the four known dragons were boss battles, the fourth is instead a playable character.
Brought Down to Badass: The Sovereigns haven't been the same ever since their defeat at the hands of Celestia given that a portion of their rightful elemental authority over Teyvat was stolen and granted to the Archons. Even so, the dragons of Teyvat still rank among the most powerful beings in their respective regions, and retain power comparable to that of the Archons, if not greater. Even with those you do fight, at best you only undo a curse, restore a seal on them, or defeat a disposable guardian created from their power, rather than actually defeat the Sovereigns themselves.
Dragons Are Divine: Though not worshipped as gods, the Sovereigns are still as powerful and immortal as their usurpers.
Everyone Has Standards: Despite most of them wishing to destroy the usurpers of Celestia, the Sovereigns encountered so far don't extend their hatred towards the humans Celestia filled Teyvat with. Many are even willing to ally with the Archons who Celestia gave part of the Sovereigns' authority to, as in general neither group has any love for Celestia. The exception is Apep, who loathes humanity but admits destroying them would serve no purpose once it is cured of Forbidden Knowledge.
Foreshadowing: In Enkanomiya it is revealed Celestia's gods and Teyvat's vishaps belong to different and largely incompatible systems of power. This basis of this claim is how the highly adaptable Bathysmal Vishaps initially had trouble acclimating to tissue transplants of Orobaxi's coral, and is reinforced by the fact that normal humans unempowered by Visions tend to suffer when exposed to substances like Smaragdus Jadeite, which possess abundant elemental energy despite not actively emitting it as flames or the like. However, a notable exception to this rule has been the Archons, who have repeatedly empowered their corresponding Sovereign - Barbatos blessed Dvalin with the Anemo Archon's power, Morax attempted to compensate for Azhdaha's erosion albeit with ultimately futile results, and Buer's second story Quest is about her healing Apep, and her powers have a noted similarity to the capabilities of the Dendro lifeforms spawned by the Sovereign. This seeming contradiction resolves itself with the reveal that the Archons possess the stolen powers of the Sovereigns. Therefore, any transfer of power from the former to the latter would be as trivial as donating the Sovereigns' own blood right back to them.
God in Human Form: The ancient elemental gods of Teyvat, whose spirits are not tied to one body, and thus can be reborn as humans, as confirmed by the Hydro Sovereign, or possess human bodies, as a portion of Azhdaha's soul did to Kun Jun in order to contact Morax.
The Old Gods: They were the original elemental rulers of Teyvat long before the time of the seven Archons, now largely forgotten.
Our Dragons Are Different: They are powerful elemental creatures with reptilian traits who once ruled over Teyvat and the seven elements much like the Archons do in the present, at least until Celestia arrived and vanquished the Sovereigns to remake the world in their own image.
Our Gods Are Different: The source of the Archons' authorities over the very elements and lands of Teyvat, who are immortal elemental spirits in the bodies of various draconic creatures.
Reincarnation: The people of Enkanomiya prophesized that the dragon sovereign of Hydro would be reborn one day in human form and were in fact proven right, as these dragon-lords require a "pure" vessel, and the Bathysmal Vishaps had lost that purity by absorbing secondary elements like Electro and Cryo on top of the their original Hydro natures. This also implies Azhdaha, the ancient and powerful Vishap spirit Morax found beneath the mountains of Liyue, is the reborn Geo Sovereign. The Luminous Glimmer Commemorative trailer, along with Venti’s description of his birth, also implies that Dvalin is the reincarnated Anemo Sovereign.
Shaped Like Itself: As revealed in the Hydro Sovereign's lore, they do not have patron constellations watching over them like the mortal characters. Rather, whatever stars in the sky are connected to them are merely avatars of the Sovereigns themselves, whose true names match those of the dragons.
Super-Empowering: Neuvillette's Vision Story reveals that the Visions that grant those with strong wishes control over the elements are in fact shards of their shattered elemental authority, rather than something bestowed by the Archons.

The Dragon King

Nibelung

The lord of all Dragons who was killed during his rebellion against the Heavenly Principles.

Top God: The Seven Sovereigns answer to him as the king of all dragons.

The Anemo Sovereign

Dvalin, Dragon of the East

The reborn Anemo Sovereign. See his page here.

The Dendro Sovereign

Apep, the Dragon of Verdure

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enemy_warden_of_oasis_prime_full_artwork.png

Warden of Apep's Oasis

^{Click here to see its silhouette}

Voiced by: Liu Ziyan (Chinese), Sayaka Kinoshita (Japanese), (Korean), Lauren Landa (English)

The dragon ruler of Sumeru and the parent of the Wenuts. Its creation is the weekly boss that is unlocked upon playing through Nahida's 2nd story quest.

Actually Pretty Funny: Though it expresses a hatred for Celestia and contempt for its affiliated gods and humans, Apep finds Deshret himself an amusing figure, particularly because of his desire to break free from Celestia and the Heavenly Principles. To that end, it allowed him to build his civilization in Sumeru under the condition that he would surrender all his knowledge to the Dendro Sovereign in the event of his death.
The Assimilator: Nahida states that it is the most adaptable life-form in Teyvat. It absorbs the elemental life forms that were trying to return to her as they converted into elemental power and lose their uniqueness, and also tried to absorb the Forbidden Knowledge that King Deshret had collected when it consumed him, only to end up enduring thousands of years of pain.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Apep warns Nahida that it would destroy Sumeru and the rest of Teyvat when she attempts to heal it. The dragon realises afterwards that the Forbidden Knowledge it was suffering from had amplified its hatred and rage, and gives up on the idea as it serves it no purpose.
Baritone of Strength: Apep has an extrememly low, feminine voice, and it is a powerful ancient dragon with the power to affect the entirety of Sumeru's environment.
Battle Theme Music: The Boss Battle against the Warden of Apep's Oasis is accompanied by the appropriately titled God-Devouring Mania, seeing that Apep suffered as a result of consuming the corpse of King Deshret that was contaminated by Forbidden Knowledge in a bid to gain power to overthrow Celestia, which drove it mad enough to want to eat Nahida as well.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Unlike Dvalin and Azdaha, who appear to be the Reincarnation of the Anemo and Geo Sovereign, Apep is heavily implied to be the surviving Dendro Sovereign. As a consequence, while Dvalin and Azdaha both worked with their respective Archon for a time before falling victim to corruption of one form or another, Apep has always been opposed to Celestia's order. Purifying it of Forbidden Knowledge doesn't take away its animosity towards Celestia, as that was never a result of corruption. Instead, it allows it to take a step back and recognize that destroying Sumeru and its people will do it no good.
Didn't Think This Through: When Apep made a deal with King Deshret to assimilate all the knowledge he collected over his life once his kingdom fell to ruin, the dragon didn't think the Forbidden Knowledge it got from him would be too much for it to handle. This resulted in it enduring centuries of terrible pain and for it to be unable to use all the knowledge it got from King Deshret.
Divine Parentage: The Wenuts and the Setekh Wenut are its children but shares none of its Dendro powers or physical characteristics.
Evil Is Not a Toy: In the past, it coveted Forbidden Knowledge under the belief that it might give it the strength to overthrow the Heavenly Principles. However true this might be, in the end it proves far too volatile to be of any use; the Forbidden Knowledge it gained from Deshret causes it so much pain that it has no mental capacity left to analyze anything he might have learned from it.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: In the midst of the sandstorm where it makes its debut, the only prominent feature that can be clearly distinguished other than its gigantic form are its glowing Supernatural Gold Eyes with Magical Eye Streamers.
God-Eating: Ate Deshret's body after his death as he had agreed to let it absorb the Forbidden Knowledge he had collected.
Green Thumb: It wields the powers of Dendro.
Hazy-Feel Turn: Purifying the Forbidden Knowledge causes Apep to realize it was rash to think planning to raze the Seven Nations would be of any consequence to Celestia. Unfortunately, that's the only form of "thanks" Nahida gets for healing it; Apep makes it plain that outside of extreme circumstances, it wants nothing to do with the Dendro Archon, only promising to observe Nahida expecting to have a hearty laugh when her boundless curiosity leads to her downfall one day.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: Apep made a deal with King Deshret that, upon his civilization crumbling, it would assimilate all the knowledge he had collected over his life. Unfortunately for Apep, part of that included assimilating Forbidden Knowledge, which inflicted terrible pain on Apep and prevented it from making use of King Deshret's knowledge.
Life Energy: As the Dendro Sovereign, Apep has power over life itself, particularly where growth and development are concerned. Its most prominent trait is its ability to change and adapt to suit its needs, which allowed it to survive the effects of Forbidden Knowledge for hundreds of years, if only just. If it ever died, the remaining energy flooding out of its body would trigger such explosive growth in Sumeru's plant life that the Dharma Forest's rainforest ecosystem would collapse from the strain.
Never Trust a Trailer: The Special Program for Version 3.6 states that Apep is the weekly boss that will be fought in Nahida's second story quest, however it turns out that the weekly boss is actually Apep's creation, and Apep itself is only seen once in a silhouette.
Our Dragons Are Different: Is an ancient, primordial dragon similar to Dvalin and Azhdaha. Apep's true physical form is never shown in full onscreen, but its silhouette in the sandstorm resembles a snake, like how its real-life counterpart is described. That said, the inside of its body is a world unto itself, within which countless Dendro-based life forms reside.
Planimal: The warden that protects Apep's Heart of Oasis has numerous small, vine-like appendages and parts resembling leafs attached to its body, as befitting her powers. Apep itself appears to have numerous branch-like appendages. Its interior is even a life-supporting ecosystem unto itself.
Pragmatic Villainy: Apep never has a Heel–Face Turn per se, so much as it's convinced to step away as a result of this trope. After it is cleansed of Forbidden Knowledge, it recognizes that destroying Sumeru isn't of any aid to its goal of a Rage Against the Heavens, and that it's also currently in no state to carry out that plan. In the end, rather than continue to antagonize Sumeru, it goes dormant to heal.
Rage Against the Heavens: As the Dendro Sovereign, Apep wishes to overthrow the Heavenly Principles.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Apep was named after a certain Egyptian omnicidal chaos god who who was the Arch-Enemy of the sun god Ra and with a similar snake-like form and also ate the Egyptian-themed God-Emperor they were associated with. However, while Genshin's Apep's isn't exactly pleased with Deshret for saddling it with Forbidden Knowledge, its ire is not directed at King Deshret in particular but rather towards Celestia itself for overthrowing its kind and taking over their world, viewing gods and humans as squatters and upstarts.
Sanity Slippage: Apep thinks it's sane when it loudly boasts it's one day going to cleanse the world of humans. It fails to realize that hosting the Forbidden Knowledge in any form is insanity personified, though to its credit it is at least able to hold a conversation in this state. Once it remembers what actual sanity feels like, it realizes that its primary beef is with the gods, and that killing the humans is pointless.
Sinister Silhouettes: Apep is introduced this way in the middle of a sandstorm, its gigantic form bearing down on the Traveler and Nahida's party. It doesn't help that loud jarring horns from the game's soundtrack will play as the player approaches the location where the cutscene to meet Apep is triggered.
Swallowed Whole: Apep got contaminated by Forbidden Knowledge because Deshret had tricked it into doing this to him when he died.
Time Abyss: In contrast to some of its brethren such as Neuvillette, who is a comparatively "fresh" reincarnation of the Hydro Sovereign and considers himself a separate entity from his predecessors, Apep personally identifies as the same Dendro Sovereign that participated in Nibelung's War of Vengeance against Celestia, which at bare minimum makes it older than the onset of the Archon Wars. Depending on how life worked out for it between the Primordial One's descent and the Sovereigns' rebellion, it may even have been alive since before Celestia established its heavenly order, which would put it in contention for the longest lived being in all of Teyvat.
Ungrateful Bastard: Downplayed. Apep harbors deep hatred for the Heavenly Principles for overthrowing its kind, and views its gods and precious humans with contempt, warning Buer that getting help from the God of Wisdom would not be enough for the Dragon of Verdure to let go of its hatred. Even after being healed and regaining its composure without the pain clouding its mind, Apep remains cold and rude despite being a bit more willing to talk things out. The only improvement in Sumeru's situation is that it regains enough clarity of mind to acknowledge that destroying humanity will not improve the odds that it can overthrow Celestia, and decides not to pursue active hostilities any further.
Womb Level: Apep is massive, enough to contain an entire world within itself. The Traveler and Nahida go inside Apep to restore the Heart of Oasis that sustains it, where they fight the real boss, the Guardian of Apep's Oasis.
World-Wrecking Wave: The problem if it dies. Letting such a vengeful and destructive being die out on its own might seem to be the more sensible option, but as a being with elemental power even greater than a god's, it's passing would oversaturate the land with Dendro energy. The resulting ultra-dense rainforest with a treeline rivalling a mountaintop would, somewhat ironically, choke the life out of all of Sumeru.
You're Insane!: When it becomes clear how deep its hatred of the gods runs, even the amicable Nahida calls it crazy right to its face. Apep notably doesn't retort or even deny it, only stating that it considers Deshret even crazier.

The Electro Sovereign

The so far unseen Dragon of Inazuma.

The Ghost: Mondstadt and Liyue introduced Dvalin and Azhdaha, who are implied to be the reborn Sovereigns of Anemo and Geo respectively, Sumeru introduced Apep, the surviving Sovereign of Dendro who once fought against Celestia's reign, and Fontaine is actively led by the current Sovereign of Hydro, while Natlan is said to be a "realm of Dragons". Four nations have an elemental dragon of the same element (and Natlan has been implied to have one as well), and in the case of Sumeru and Fontaine, are confirmed to have been built upon their Sovereigns' former lands. Logically speaking, Inazuma ought to have some form of connection to the Electro Sovereign, but there are no obvious traces of its existence anywhere in the island nation.
Sequel Hook: With the reveal in 4.2 that the true source of Visions is pieces of the shattered elemental authorities of the Sovereigns themselves, the unresolved plot point that Electro Visions have stopped appearing recently, with even the Electro Archon Raiden Shogun having no idea as to why, points directly to a still unrevealed story involving the Electro Sovereign.

The Geo Sovereign

Azhdaha, Lord of Vishaps

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enemy_azhdaha_full_artwork.png

Voiced by: Liu Beichen (Chinese), Kohei Kiyasu (Japanese), Matthew Greenbaum (English)

"A long time ago, a dragon there was to be found in Liyue. Not a dragon that soared the skies, but one whose abode was the mountains. Indeed, this ancient dragon of stone was as large as the very mountains it called home."

—The Unforged lore entry

The reborn Sovereign of Geo, Azhdaha is a massive dragon sealed under a tree in Nantianmen. Azhdaha makes his full debut in v1.5 as a weekly boss, when he is released from his prison beneath the Dragon-Queller tree. Though his history with Rex Lapis began several millennia ago as the progenitor of the Geovishaps, his full tale stretches back into ages immemorial as a disembodied spirit. Rex Lapis carved him a body out of the earth, enabling the two to rule together for a time, but Azhdaha slowly lost his mind to erosion and had to be forcibly sealed away to prevent him from harming humanity.

Almighty Idiot: Before Morax found him and gave him his dragon body, Azhdaha was a geo spirit living beneath the mountains of Liyue, unable to see or hear anything around him in the dark depths of the earth. This despite him soon demonstrating god-like abilties like creating avatars of himself, causing quakes that could reach across Liyue, and the ability to fuse with all manner of things from other elements to massive trees and mountains. Morax even notes if Azhdaha had truly gone all out, even he wasn't sure he could win against the ancient spirit.
Arc Villain: Azhdaha, or rather his evil half, serves as the main villain of Zhongli's second story quest.
Beware My Stinger Tail: He can use his tail like a magic wand to conjure elemental projectiles such as homing spikes of Cryo or orbs of Electro.
Chekhov's Gun: In Nantianmen, there's a young girl named Jiu who talks about an ancient being that will soon make its return. Version 1.5 confirms that said being is Azhdaha and she has some connection to him.
Damage Over Time: One of his attacks starting in his second phase has him mark your character with Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, or Electro. If your character isn't protected by a shield, they will take continuous heavy damage until they die.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Out of the four weekly bosses, he has the highest health out of all of them, and can take a serious beating before going down.
Demonic Possession: Downplayed. His well-intentioned half possesses the human Kun Jun to stop his malicious half from releasing his true body from his seal. Once his work is done however, he releases Kun Jun and arranges for him to be taken care of in Liyue. According to a conversation Xinyan had with Yunjin and Xiangling, Kun Jun retained some of Azhdaha's ability to see the memories of stones, at least enough to differentiate minerals at a glance.
Dub Name Change: In the Chinese dub, his name is 若陀龙王 (Rětuó Lóngwáng). In the Japanese dub, per Alternate Character Reading (though written as 若陀龍王 instead), his name is Jakuda Ryū'ō.
Elemental Powers: Like the Adult and Primo Geovishaps, he is capable of using Pyro, Cryo, Hydro, and Electro on top of his natural Geo powers in battle. Unlike them, however, he can use two elements at once, using his tail and spikes to fire elemental-infused projectiles and using the elements to empower his stomp attacks.
Evil Sounds Deep: Has a deep, booming voice.
The Fog of Ages: His stone body holds his memories, and so centuries of erosion and change to it has left him forgetting much of his own past and motivations. This is the original cause of him going on a rampage.
Foil: For Dvalin, a dragon of the sky to Azhdaha's being a dragon of the earth. Both were close friends and allies of their region's Archon only to turn against them out of anger at seemingly being thrown aside in favor of the humans that hurt them. But where Dvalin's fall was ultimately caused by Durin's poison and the Abyss Order corrupting him, and could be undone by Barbatos, Azhdaha's fall was caused by his own failing memory rather than an outside party, which no amount of help from Morax could stop. Reduced over time to emotional responses over reason and patience, Azhdaha lashed out when injured by human activity, forcing Morax to confront him and seal him away. And where Dvalin's legacy as a savior is able to be restored along with his sanity, Azhdaha's own heroism and service, while still being told about in stories, is marred by the necessary reminders that he remains dangerous, and cannot be released from his prison.
Fusion Dance: While the Dragon-Queller tree was meant to be his prison, Azhdaha has been slowly merging with the tree and using it to draw power from the Leylines.
Gameplay and Story Integration: His lines at the start of his boss fight differ depending on whether or not the player has Zhongli in their party.
God in Human Form: Jiu and Kun Jun are incarnations of the dragon / spirit taking the form of and possessing a human respectively.
Golem: His dragon body is actually a piece of stone carved by Morax, with Azhdaha being a ridiculously powerful geo spirit animating it. The slow decay of this stone body from centuries of time passing and Azhdaha absorbing additional materials into it has also caused Azhdaha to suffer memory loss.
Humans Are Flawed: The overall impression he gives when taking both his malevolent and benevolent halves' views of humanity at face value. On the one hand, by Jiu's claims Azhdaha is angry at humans for the pain their overexploitation of the Ley Lines inflicted on him, and resents being thrown away for their sake. On the other hand, by Kun Jun's admission Azhdaha admires humans for being able to see so much artistic potential in the minerals of the earth, regarding the work of blacksmiths with wonder.
Libation for the Dead: The cutscene for Lantern Rite 2022 shows that a few cups of (presumably) wine are placed in front of the Dragon Queller stone tablet, to wish him Happy Lantern Rite. Granted, he's not dead, just sealed.
Literal Split Personality: His warring feelings on his sealing are split between his two incarnations: Jiu, who is angry over having to be sealed for the sake of mortals who care nothing for him, and Kun Jun, who wishes to remain sealed so the gods and spirits may coexist with mortals.
Master of All: Despite being the Geo Sovereign, he possesses the power to attack with Pyro, Hydro, Cryo and Electro as well. The only elements he cannot wield are Dendro and Anemo, which do not react with Geo.
Meaningful Name: In the Chinese dub, 若陀 ("Rětuó") means "like a downward slope, steep bank, declivity", a name that befits a Monster-Shaped Mountain.
Meteor-Summoning Attack: When Azhdaha enters his Pyro infusion form, one of his attacks called "The King's Roar" summons a barrage of Pyro meteors onto the arena, with their impact spots highlighted with red runes to let the player know where they'll hit so they can avoid them.
Mistaken for Quake: After he started going on a rampage, he made himself a Monster-Shaped Mountain whose tiniest movement, or slightest stretch... would cause the earth itself to tremble and shake.
Monster Progenitor: The most ancient and powerful of the Geovishaps, who once wreaked havoc alongside him. When he was sealed away, the Geovishaps retreated underground. Though "monster" may be the wrong word for them, as they predate humanity and are the original people of Teyvat if the myths in "Before Sun and Moon" are to be believed.
Monster-Shaped Mountain: The Unforged greatsword says at the height of his power he was as large as the mountains of Nantianmen he called his home.
No-Sell: As a boss with multiple phases, all damage against him turns to 0 after he's taken a certain amount of damage that triggers his transformation into the next phase. Once the elemental transformation is over, he becomes vulnerable again.
Not Quite Dead: Jiu claims he is in the process of fusing with the tree he is sealed within, corrupting the Leylines and taking control over them.
Odd Name Out: His name stands out as being unrelated to the Ars Goetia Theme Naming of the other gods since he is heavily implied to be a reincarnation of one of the Old Gods unrelated to Celestia.
Our Dragons Are Different: An ancient, primordial Vishap spirit animating a stone golem carved in the shape of a dragon that can merge itself with additional elements and materials. In the video that details his creation, the artists wanted his form to look neither like Dvalin nor Morax' dragon form, and they used several sources for his inspiration, including various dinosaurs.
Planimal: Thanks to merging with the Dragon-Queller tree, Azhdaha has become part plant as shown by his tail sprouting leaves.
Purely Aesthetic Glasses: His incarnation Jiu wears glasses despite being a zombie who shouldn't need them. It might be symbolic of how Morax granted Azhdaha eyes to see the world.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: He is the Lord of the Geovishaps and the most powerful of them all. At the time of his sealing, Azhdaha was able to go toe to toe with Morax in a straight fight while still holding back to some degree.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has glowing red eyes.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: "Azhdaha" is a shorthand for Azhi Dahāka, an evil entity in Persian Mythology sometimes thought of as a giant serpent or a dragon.
Scatterbrained Senior: Centuries of erosion has taken a toll on his mental faculties, leaving him increasingly forgetful and belligerent.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Azhdaha was sealed within a tree called Dragon-Queller by the Adepti. However, he has slowly merging with the tree and connecting its roots to the Ley Lines to draw power from them to gain the strength to escape his prison.
Shockwave Stomp: Many of his attacks are in the form of these, empowered by the elements.
Spike Shooter: Like the Primo Geovishaps, he can fire spikes from his back.
Stout Strength: One of the most powerful entities in the setting, able to fight Morax toe-to-toe in the past and lost only because his benevolent side held back. He's also noticeably bulky for a dragon.
Tunnel King: Like other Geovishaps, Azhdaha can burrow underground to attack.
Use Your Head: One of his attacks has him ramming your characters.
Vocal Dissonance: Even when he reverts back to Jiu, his deep, masculine voice continues to emanate from Jiu's little girl body.
We Used to Be Friends: Morax gave Azhdaha a body to see the world above the ground with, and for a time Azhdaha worked with Morax as his comrade, bringing peace and prosperity to the lands of Liyue by his side. However in the end it was not to be, and after going on a rampage Azhdaha was defeated and sealed beneath the ground Morax had once freed him from.

The Hydro Sovereign (SPOILERS)

Chief Justice Neuvillette

The reborn Hydro Dragon and Iudex of Fontaine, who becomes the ruler of his respective nation following the end of the Fontaine Archon Quest.

See his page here.

Characters / Genshin Impact: Other Gods

Celestia

The Primordial One / "Phanes" / The First Descender

Aria, Sonnet, and Canon

Istaroth, the God of Moments / Kairos

The Unknown God / The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles

Mondstadt

Decarabian

Liyue

Beisht

Guizhong / Haagentus

Havria

Marchosius / Guoba

Osial

Inazuma

Kanna Kapatcir

Orobashi

Sumeru

Nabu Malikata

Deshret / Amun

Khvarena/Simurgh, the Divine Bird

Fontaine

Remus, King of All Under Heaven

The Descenders (Unmarked Spoilers for the entire section!)

The Heavenly Principles (allegedly)

The Second Who Came

The Third Descender

The Traveler / The Fourth Descender

The Seven Sovereigns

Nibelung

Dvalin, Dragon of the East

Apep, the Dragon of Verdure

Azhdaha, Lord of Vishaps

Chief Justice Neuvillette

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Genshin Impact: Other Gods

Edit Locked

Celestia

The Primordial One / "Phanes" / The First Descender

Aria, Sonnet, and Canon

Istaroth, the God of Moments / Kairos

The Unknown God / The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles

Mondstadt

Decarabian

Liyue

Beisht

Guizhong / Haagentus

Havria

Marchosius / Guoba

Osial

Inazuma

Kanna Kapatcir

Orobashi

Sumeru

Nabu Malikata

Deshret / Amun

Khvarena/Simurgh, the Divine Bird

Fontaine

Remus, King of All Under Heaven

The Descenders (Unmarked Spoilers for the entire section!)

The Heavenly Principles (allegedly)

The Second Who Came

The Third Descender

The Traveler / The Fourth Descender

The Seven Sovereigns

Nibelung

Dvalin, Dragon of the East

Apep, the Dragon of Verdure

Azhdaha, Lord of Vishaps

Chief Justice Neuvillette

Previous

Index

Next