Fridge / Genshin Impact

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Fridge Brilliance

Fridge Brilliance:

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• Luminiferous aether is the theory of how light travels through empty space. The twins travel through the void as shooting stars to visit countless worlds, and what are their English names? Lumine and Aether.
• According to the developers, the Elemental Reactions are a mixture of the elements' themes, and an artistic rendition of real-life phenomena. Some are intuitive like Vaporize, Melt, Electro-Charged, Frozen, Burning, Bloom, and Swirl; you can probably guess which elements make them up. For others, they begin to make more sense when given some thought:
  • Overloaded: Electrical fires and explosions are a result of excessive current through electric components.
  • Superconduct: Certain materials can conduct electricity with zero resistance when they are cooled below a certain point.
  • Crystallize: Elements or molecules form highly-ordered structures upon crystallization, and most well-known crystals like gems form underneath the Earth's surface.
  • Catalyze: Based on developer commentary, Catalyze is based on the underlying themes of Dendro (wisdom) and Electro (energy) rather than a real-life phenomenon^note Lightning will just kill or burn a tree as plant matter doesn't conduct electricity, wouldn't it?. It is also tied with the local history of Sumeru, Foreshadowing how Nahida used the Electro and Dendro Gnoses to fulfill her mission to rescue Irminsul as well. You can say that a spark of inspiration meeting the mind serves as the catalyst to create new knowledge in the process.
  • Related to this: Why does Vaporize deal more damage when a Hydro attack triggers it (compared to a Pyro attack)? Because (barring special circumstances like flammable fuels and electricity) it is easier to put out a fire with water than it is to start a fire on something wet.
• Why does Dendro not react at all to Cryo? Plants are not able to grow in environments that are too cold.
• Anemo and Geo having only one reaction^note Swirl and Crystallize, respectively with Pyro/Hydro/Cryo/Electro reflect their themes of freedom and adherence: Anemo freely scatters elements beyond its source, while Geo gathers the element into a single, condensed shield.
• With the exception of Burning, Dendro's second-level reactions are named after a specific concept to emphasize their relationships with their matching first-level reactions.
  • Quicken, Aggravate, and Spread all involve some form of accelerating a process, hence are related to Catalyze^note The umbrella term for all Dendro-Electro reactions. Burgeon and Hyperbloom are related to plant growth and thus are related to Bloom.
  • In Chinese, the names make the relationships easier to recognize. Catalyze, Quicken, Aggravate, and Spread are called Intensification, Original-Intensification, Hyper-Intensification, and Vine-Intensification, respectively, while Bloom, Burgeon, and Hyperbloom are called Blossoming, Intense-Blossoming, and Hyper-Blossoming, respectively.
• Mona's name might have a connection to her role as an astrologer. In Middle English or Old English, "mona" means "moon".
• Hilichurl Shooters have a big case of Artificial Stupidity and rarely move when aggro'd because Hilichurls in general don't have the technological know-how to create crossbows, so the ones they use are mainly looted or implied to be given out by the Abyss Order. Their training and knowledge of the weapon probably doesn't go beyond "point at enemy and fire".
• The Leonard of Genshin Impact is probably named after, and based on Leonardo da Vinci. As the "Unreconciled Stars" event revealed that Leonard is the inventor of the Wind Gliders, Leonardo da Vinci is also known to have conceptualized flying machines.
• Parsley, Sage and Rosemary are three NPCs located near the entrance of Mondstadt. Since they are grouped together in the same spot, their names are references to three of the four herbs ("Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme") mentioned in the lyrics of the English ballad "Scarborough Fair". While there's no NPC named "Thyme", it may be possible that Timmie's name is a play on the fourth herb since he's also located near the entrance of Mondstadt just like them.
• The Mysterious Seelie in Genshin are floating creatures that reward you with chests if you guide them to their destinations (called "Seelie Gardens"). They are based on the Seelie Court of Scottish folklore (relatively benign fairies who return kindness from humans with favors). As of Version 1.2, the "Seelie Gardens" were renamed into "Seelie Courts", making the reference even more obvious.
• Both Sara and Amber are impressed by the Traveler's culinary acumen during Jean's story quest with the former comparing them to a head chef while the latter implying that they weren't always skilled in cooking. This could be the result of the Traveler's contact with Xiangling, since she made an offer to teach them how to cook during her own story quest and they even used Wanmin Restaurant to extract the Silk Flower essence during the main Archon quest.
• The Unusual Hilichurl drops cabbages when he's defeated, which may seem odd at first, but since he's an Author Avatar of miHoYo's co-founder, Forrest Wei Liu, just like his "Dawei" counterpart from Honkai Impact 3rd, then the cabbages might be a reference to an existing joke as well. In HI3, the character named Ai-chan has light-green odango hair resembling cabbages, something that has turned into a Running Gag in that game, and a Fan Nickname for her from the miHoYo fanbase.
• So at the end of Zhongli's character story, he throws Havria's infinite salt chalice and ruler at the bottom of the Guyun Stone Forest's ocean. Zhongli essentially turned Teyvat's oceans into salt water.
  • Or because the ocean is already salty, it's the only logical place where it can be kept away from greedy people and not make a significant impact to Teyvat.
• As this Redditor points it out, Zhongli's meteor from his elemental burst, the Memory of Dust catalyst(whose lore is deeply connected with that of Liyue), as well as the shape of the Aerosiderite materials (which can be found in Liyue), look exactly like a Burr puzzle. There's actually some correlation to these; Liyue is the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of China, Zhongli is the Archon of Liyue, and the Burr puzzle is thought to have originated from China, hence the six-piece burr's alternate name of "Chinese Cross".
• There is quite a bit of Fridge Brillence in the attack patterns for claymore user:
  • Most claymore-wielding characters have the same charged attack (using the momentum and weight of the blade to continuously spin), except for Diluc, Beidou, Dehya, and Eula, who instead perform consecutive wide slashes followed by only one spinning attack every few hits. Diluc and Eula are both certified captains of the Knights of Favonius (Diluc being a former member, while Eula is still serving), Beidou is an experienced pirate captain, and Dehya is an experienced mercenary. Additionally, they're the tallest of the claymore users, so they actually have the build necessary to properly wield such a large weapon. In Itto's case (who swings his claymore diagonally from side-to-side), he lacks the experience/training but is an Oni with all the Super-Strength that implies. For him, swinging around a massive claymore is no more difficult than how normal sword users wield their weapons.
  • Sayu, one of the smallest claymore users, still has a spinning charged attack but she lacks the strength of her taller counterparts, taking an extra hit to break crystal and amethyst ores and visibly pausing after each of her normal attacks. Sayu is also unique among the Claymore users in that she doesn't have an attack that slams her weapon into the ground. Which makes sense, since she, as a ninja, doesn't want to alert her enemies.
• The Archons' respective ages are probably references to how long their element has existed on Earth. The planet was just a ball of molten rock (Geo) wrapped in a basic atmosphere (Anemo) when it was first formed after all, whereas complex, multicellular lifeforms (Dendro) came much later.
• Baal, the Archon of Electro, is obsessed with the concept of "eternity". Electricity is a type of energy. The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed into a different form, meaning that it will forever be existent. Why did Ei's original plan to achieve eternity fail? Because she wanted to make Inazuma operate at perfect self-sustaining efficiency with the same energy source, forever. Breaking the second law of thermodynamics, even if it's a societal metaphor, isn't going to work no matter how hard you try because that engine/battery/whatever will always end up wearing down.
• The Fatui's powerful attempts at seizing territory control and dominion over Mondstadt makes sense when considering that the concentration of Cryo, the element of Snezhnaya's Archon, in the region is high because of Andrius and Dragonspine Mountain.
• Havria, the Goddess of Salt, was described as being an extreme pacifist who kept surrendering parcels of her land during the Archon War until there was hardly anything left but Sal Terrae. You could almost say Havria was dissolving away.
• Fullmoon Egg and Golden Shrimp Balls are served as parts of Yue cuisine, if Xinyue Terrace serving only Yue cuisine is to be believed. Since they're otherwise recognizable as dim sum and fried shrimp balls, this suggests Yue cuisine is Teyvat's equivalent to Cantonese cuisine, since that's where the two dishes are from.
• Teucer's love for "Mr. Cyclops" appears to be a metaphor for how much he looks up to his big brother Ajax. After all, even without Foul Legacy's single piercing blue eye, Childe looks as if he's only got one eye while wearing his Harbinger's mask.
• The Abyss Herald, introduced in Version 1.4 as part of the "We Will Be Reunited" Archon Quest, has been noted by players to have a similar fighting style to Childe. The connection makes sense because Childe was trained in the Abyss.
• Noelle is the only starting character who's guaranteed to be acquired from the "Beginners' Wish" gacha. In-lore, all a citizen of Mondstadt has to do is call out her name and she'll come running to solve their problem, so of course, she can be counted on to answer the player's call for help.
• Zhongli's Dominus Lapidis, when charged, can break even the sturdiest of ores and stones, including the Cor Lapis and Noctilucous Jade found in Liyue. This can be attributed to the fact that he is the Geo Archon, commanding the land and rock to bend to his will. Thus, allowing the player to easily break and collect them, whereas even Claymore users will have some hard time breaking these stones. And it's even a better choice when the player is using Zhongli since he uses a polearm.
• Mixed with Fridge Horror: Abyss Mages runes and Black Speech esque language isn't as Eldritch as it first seems, it's the language of Khaenri'ah.
• Diona's tail bobs back and forth in her walking animation but becomes noticeably stiffer when running. That's because she's using her tail to maintain balance much like a real cat.
• The Anemo Hypostasis is unique in how it heals itself once even after all of its Anemo particles are absorbed, as opposed to its Geo and Electro counterparts, which disappear after their stone pillars and electro orbs are destroyed, respectively. Technically, wind is just the flow of air. When forced into revival state, the Hypostasis can still absorb the elemental energy created by the movement of air and heal itself.
• In regards to the Token Mini Moes of the game (Diona, Klee, Qiqi, Nahida, Sayu, and Yaoyao) and their lack of oversight:
  • Even without their Visions, they each have traits/skills with which they can defend themselves; Diona's a skilled hunter, Klee is a Demolitions Expert who plays around with live explosives, Qiqi is a supernaturally powerful zombie, Nahida is the Dendro Archon, Sayu is a talented ninja, and Yaoyao learned the spear under Madam Ping's tutelage.
  • Additionally, four of them (Diona, Qiqi, Sayu, Yaoyao) also have healing abilities to patch themselves up with, providing another justification for their lack of oversight. Klee and Nahida do not have healing skills, but anything attacking them are not likely to survive long enough to hurt them.
  • Dori is the odd one out, as while she does use the "Short Female" model she is all but stated to be an adult, so she doesn't need any justification to go out on her own. However, even if she is actually a child she still fits the criteria mentioned as she has her Jinni to defend herself and also has a healing ability.
• Keqing's 180 reversal on the subject of Rex Lapis isn't totally out of left field if you compare her with Wanyan. Wanyan hates the Geo Archon for supposedly murdering Havria, her people's former deity, and this hatred is emphasized by the fact that she always refers to him as "Morax" rather than the more reverent title of "Rex Lapis". In contrast, for all her skepticism and open criticism, Keqing never once refers to him as anything except Rex Lapis, not even in her very first Nay-Theist speech that she delivered to his face. Deep down, she did respect him, however begrudgingly.
• Currently, all Electro Vision wielders do not wear armor. Considering how they are not immune to the effects of their own Element, it makes sense not to wear something that's meant to conduct electricity really well.
• Barbara is thus far the only four star character to have cinematic invincibility frames with her Elemental Burst. Of course the Idol Singer would have a flashy animation.
• It makes sense Benny's Adventure Team was so unsuccessful. Bennett is meant to act as a support character, while here he's taken the lead. It takes a lot to get support characters to act as a Main DPS.
  • Additionally, his elemental burst can heal because he needs it considering how roughed up he gets due to his luck. Too bad it can't completely heal him though...
  • Also Fridge Sadness: Bennett can also fit the role of a Main DPS much better than other supports because of his elemental skill. Why? He had to learn how to do so because he's often a solo adventurer.
• Of the event stories so far between the two regions, the Mondstadt focused events have more playable characters involved in one way or another. While Liyue, so far, have the Liyue playable characters act separately. A majority of the Mondstadt characters are part of the Order of the Knights of Favonius, and even if they aren't, they are at least connected to the order in some way (Razor being taught by Varka and Lisa, Diluc being a former knight, Diona's friendship with Eula, etc.). Liyue, on the other hand, had the playable cast in different factions and have their own affiliations. Hence, they aren't completely involved with each other and/or only ever knew each other in passing, in contrast to the playable Mondstadt characters who are far more connected with each other.
• Of course Yanfei is friends with Eula. How could she not like an end-user license agreement?
• Following The Reveal in Act IV of the Midsummer Adventure event, it would be strange that Alice would send a letter to Diluc despite his lack of involvement with Klee compared to the others, with the latter even referring to him as the "weird grown-up". Though given that Dvalin is the only (safe) way to get to the Archipelago in the first place, Diluc is invited by Alice due to him being the only one who knows how to get into contact with Venti in order to have Dvalin ferry his party of 4 into the islands since Jean and the Traveler were already on-location.
• Many of the player characters seem to have thematic elements in their stories based on the element of their Vision:
  • Pyro characters have a great singular passion ^note  or, for pun value, burning passion for something, such as Amber's duty as an Outrider, Bennett's love for adventuring, Xiangling's talent for cooking, Klee's love of explosives, Xinyan's passion for rock n' roll, Hu Tao's duty to helping the dead move on, Yoimiya's love of fireworks, Yanfei's obsession over law, Dehya's determination in her mercenary work, Lyney's dedication to magic, Chevreuse's value of justice, and Gaming pursuit of Wushu Dancing. Even those who initially subvert it such as Diluc fit the theme (Diluc's initial passion of becoming a knight with a strong sense of justice to make his father proud is now redirected to justice in making the Fatui pay and protecting Mondstadt from the shadows.) They are also associated with personality individualism, representing how their quirks are often seen as weird by many people.
  • Hydro characters have Hidden Depths. Barbara's enthusiasm masks disillusionment with being an idol, Xingqiu's airheaded personality belies his martial prowess and being part of one of the most influential groups in Liyue, Tartaglia/Childe cares deeply for his family despite his bloodlust and chaotic tendencies, Mona insists her frugality helps with her astrology when she actually has terrible spending habits, Ayato's friendly facade masks his reputation as one of Inazuma's most cunning (and respected) men, Kokomi's people look up to her as someone with all the answers when she's only human and struggles to cope with the pressure, Yelan's confidence and mysterious demeanour masks Survivor's Guilt from losing comrades in the past, Nilou's passion for dance and air headedness hides a surprisingly adept debater who can put an experienced scholar on the back foot, Candace's status as a descendent of King Deshret is a white lie meant to make guarding Aaru Village easier, and Neuvillette is straight-laced in his role as Chief Justice of Fontaine but is actually quite affable and friendly. Furina, meanwhile, is known as a histronics-prone, immature Miles Gloriosus, but it was later revealed all of that was an act to uphold a grand scheme by the Hydro Archon. They are also associated with devotion, representing how their jobs and interests affect their relationships with other people and their own life as well.
  • Electro characters are either outcasts or actively choose to be different. Lisa refuses to be promoted to a higher position, Beidou is a pirate who constantly butts heads with the law, Keqing wants her people to stand on their own two feet instead of being looked after by Archons, Fischl grew up without friends, Razor was raised by wolves, Sara is a tengu raised by a human and is disconnected from both her heritage and adoptive family, Yae Miko is The Dreaded due to her penchant for ruthless teasing and strictness as a publisher, Shinobu ran away from her family to willingly become a gang member, Dori is a traveling merchant dealing in wares illegal under Sumeru law (and as a result, like Beidou, she often butts heads with them), and Cyno isn't well liked due to his reputation and demeanor despite his own attempts to improve the situation. Ei, on the other hand, became an outcast by choice due to trauma and her unwillingness to face the harsh reality, which heavily affected her mental health to the point of depression. They are also associated closely with their desire in life, representing how all of them got their powers because of their respective desires shapeing them into the person they are now.
  • Anemo characters have some important duty. Jean puts her all into leading the Knights, Xiao fights to protect Liyue, Sucrose is working towards some unknown greater goal, Kazuha is determined to reawaken his late friend's Vision, Sayu is willing to sacrifice her nap time if the Shuumatsuban assigns her to help someone, Heizou wants to use his role as a detective to end crime, Faruzan remains loyal to her Darshan and continues to teach in it despite said teachings being considered outdated, to Wanderer/Scaramouche was originally designed to carry the Electro Gnosis and aids both the Traveler and Nahida to thank them for giving him a chance to start over after being a Fatui Harbringer, and Lynette is a loyal agent of the House of the Hearth. Even Xianyun, stated to be the most unfettered and freedom-loving adeptus, still ties herself down to her disciples who're effectively her adopted children. Meanwhile, Venti lost his Gnosis due to his power weakening from not doing his duty of ruling Mondstadt. They are also associated closely with kindness and loss, which is seen from their stories in how they tried to help people as far as they could without receiving anything in return and how all of them lost someone they cared about in their past and how this loss affects their life.
  • Cryo characters have experienced some form of loss, or are undergoing hardship. Ganyu had difficulty connecting with humans due to her half-adepti blood, Chongyun had difficulty in being an exorcist due to radiating excessive Yang energy leading to the spirits he is supposed to exorcise fleeing from him on sight, Rosaria lost her parents and was subsequently kidnapped at the hands of slavers as a child, Eula tossed aside her family legacy but can't gain the respect from Mondstat's general populace, Kaeya was abandoned by his birth father, Diona's reverence for her father was shattered by his alcoholism, Shenhe lost both of her parents due to circumstances related to her curse that gave her homicidal tendencies (which the adepti suppressed with red ropes, but that also led to her loss of emotions), Ayaka has little to no friends because people are afraid to approach her (being seen as the model lady in Inazuma), Qiqi lost her life at a very young age, Mika is a Nervous Wreck, Layla struggles with a sleeping disorder, Charlotte, while undeterred by it, frequently has her life targeted by those she seeks to or has exposed and often has to be transferred out of the country until the trouble blows over, Freminent suffers from severe social anxiety due to his Dark and Troubled Past, and Wriothesley suffers guilt from murdering his foster parents despite them completely deserving it. They are also associated closely with inner conflicts, which can be seen in how most of them are in conflict with their own problems in life.
  • Geo characters have great ambition. Ningguang puts her money into building the Jade Palace to be as large as possible, Albedo studies alchemy to seek the truth of life and the world, Gorou leads Kokomi's men in an effort to fight back against (and ultimately abolish) the Vision Hunt Decree, and Noelle works extremely hard to one day become a Knight of Favonius, Itto is dedicated to earning his place in human society without conforming to their standards, Yun Jin is dedicated to perfecting her craft to the point of engaging in some dangerous method acting, and Navia is dedicated to clearing her father's name and uplifting both Spina di Rosula and Poisson, and Chiori wishes to make her boutique and brand span all of Teyvet. Zhongli's ambition lead to him building Liyue into a prosperous nation, but he grew weary from the responsibility and gave up his gnosis so he could live a normal life. They're also associated closely with the personality of a Determinator, as nothing will stop them trying to achieve their goals.
  • Dendro have three possible elements with their characters:
    • Dendro characters have a strong connection with the Earth and nature in some way. Tighnari and Collei are both Forest Watchers who protect the habitat around them, Alhaitham has an interest in archaeology and ancient ruins, Yaoyao grew up close to nature in Qingce Village, Baizhu is a pharmacist who has knowledge of healing herbs, Kaveh is an architect, which requires knowledge of types of building materials and the ground he's building on top of, and Kirara's role as a courier requires her to traverse to a wide array of geographical enviroments on foot. Nahida, as the God of Wisdom, is tasked with guarding Irminsul, ensuring it's kept free of corruption and can use it to rewrite reality as she chooses.
    • Alternatively, and fitting for the element associated with Wisdom, many Dendro characters are either extremely intelligent and/or are dedicated to the pursuit or bequeathing of knowledge. Tighnari uses his occupation as a forest ranger in order to further research the flora and fungi of Sumeru's rainforests; Collei is a dedicated student of the former and is actively learning to read; Alhaitham is The Spock who is quite content with his occupation as a scribe and regularly read books containing complex formulas; Yaoyao is a disciple of Madame Ping who's regarded as a talented student; Kaveh is an architect dedicated to the pursuit of the arts; Baizhu is heavily Implied by other characters to be an Immortality Seeker; and Kirara is tasked with delivering letters and packages the world over. Lesser Lord Kusanali, or rather Nahida, is not only dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge herself, being Constantly Curious about the world around her both on principle and due to her years of isolation, but she also actively encourages it to those around her, having the Traveler figure out about the Sage's Samsara through giving hints and encouraging them to investigate instead of simply telling them. Furthermore, she deactivates the Akasha Terminals after the Sages are ousted and she takes over Sumeru out of valid belief that it has made Sumeru's scholars and academics too intellectually complacent.
    • All of the Dendro characters also have familial-like bonds with others not related to them by blood. Tighnari and Collei have each other as well as Cyno; Yaoyao has her bond with the adepti; Alhaitham and Kaveh live under the same roof and are connected by neither having biological family around; Baizhu has Changsheng and Qiqi; and Kirara was accepted into Inazuman society after getting her delivery job. As for Nahida, she takes in the Wanderer/Scaramouche after his defeat and he ends up in a much better place because of it.
• Going off of the above, the Traveler, who eventually gains the ability to wield every element as they travel across nations, also fits all those thematic elements in some way themselves:
  • Pyro: The Traveler has a singular goal of trying to find their missing sibling, and this often leads to the few times they can speak or show emotion on-screen. They can also potentially develop a passion for certain hobbies in Teyvat (which are shown as minigames), such as TCG, architecture via the teapot, and fishing.
  • Hydro: Their youthful appearance belies the fact that they're at least 500 years old and their incredibly powerful prowess in combat, which tends to catch both playable characters and NPCs off guard.
  • Electro: The Traveler hails from outside Teyvat, which can cause them to stand out at times as they aren't always aware of cultural customs and their clothing style is remarked on by other characters.
  • Anemo: The storyline of the game is kickstarted by the loss of their twin sibling, and they have a mission to travel across all of Teyvat and meet with the Archon of each nation for clues, helping many others along the way.
  • Cryo: The Traveler's journey throughout the main Archon Quests haven't been without hardship and loss, and there are times when they're jaded and end up in conflict because of their limited options.
  • Geo: Their goal of trying to meet the Archons of each nation (and eventually, the Heavenly Principles) is an ambitious one that most mortals wouldn't even dream of, and they're undeterred in their journey to do so.
  • Dendro: The Traveler amasses a wealth of knowledge and wisdom from their travels throughout Teyvat, and is often considered a smart and quick-witted person. As for a strong, familial-like bond, they definitely have such a bond with their traveling companion, Paimon.
• Many of the Archons shown or discussed thus far in detail have a dual theming that encapsulates life and death, to further the idea that they all embody aspects of life in similar but different ways, with particular emphasis placed on how they can embody death.
  • For the Anemo Archon, One of the most vital things described in many religions is the breath of life, due to your first and last breaths being the first and last things your body will likely ever do. For Barbatos in particular, he takes the role of a gentle angel of death who carries the dead to their eternal rest on the wind. For Decarabian, he became a tyrant known for bringing death and destruction to those who opposed him through powerful storms.
  • For the Geo Archon, a common metaphor for life is "springing from the earth" and for death "returning to the earth". Using Mora, Morax can create and shape anything, including beings like Azhdaha, provided there is a kernel of potential in the stone he starts with. In his mortal disguise, Morax became the head consultant of the Wangsheng funeral parlor, dealing in funerary rites for anyone from citizens, to the gods slain in the Archon Wars, to eventually even himself through the burial of his Exuvia.
  • For the Electro Archon, electricity can be life-nourishing, but it's also seen as divine retribution used to smite those who earn God's wrath for their ignorance. From what has been divulged of Raiden Baal, she's one of the more dogmatic archons, leaning heavily into her perception of a divine right and striking down those who would question or threaten her authority, either with her Electro power or through her quick-as-lightning swordsmanship.
  • For the Dendro Archon, they naturally represent the most rudimentary form of life from which most things draw nutrients either through consumption or through breath; plants. However, they also represent a more conceptual form of life and death. Keeping the memories of those you love strong is said to be a way of keeping them alive in your heart, and letting those memories fade gracefully is a way of letting them - and yourself - rest easily.
    
    This even applies to The Wanderer's brief attempt at becoming the Archon of Wisdom, bound primarily to his status as an Artificial Human. Memory itself is said to be a major aspect of an identity and thus a life; if someone has no memory of themself, is that person not dead in some sense? And if they actively despise the actions they took under that original identity, are they not born anew?
  • For the Hydro Archon, she plays into the more Messianic Archetype-style of life and death duology, as she ended up making a Heroic Sacrifice so that her own citizens can live, and not die from the Prophecy.
• Each Archon has a recurring theme regarding the trials and tribulations in their life as a result of choosing to remain absolute embodiments of their concepts, despite the consequences putting a heavy toll on their hearts.
  • As the God of Freedom, Barbatos chose not to rule his people, and thus became weaker than most Archons. As a result, La Signora is able to overpower him for his gnosis, and in the prequel manga, it's shown that Monstadt tends to teeter on the edge of falling into forms of depravity that Decarabian or later powers like the Aristocracy enforced of their own volition without some kind of guidance like himself or Jean.
  • As the God of Contracts, Morax is always willing to cut a deal, refuses to break his contracts, and punishes anyone who breaks theirs in his midst. From this, not only is he able to be convinced to sign away his gnosis, he's made at least one other contract that actively harmed him and Teyvat as a whole, and has been sworn to secrecy as to what the terms even are, meaning it's unknown what benefit he saw in them.
  • As the God of Eternity, Baal seeks to protect and preserve all stability within her domain, and sees everlasting prosperity and life as her ultimate goal. However, due to her clinging too tightly to her control over fate as a result of losing people close to her, she locked away her heart and mind to meditate, leaving her mechanical body on an autopilot sequence driven by algorithms and raw statistics to govern in her place. As a result, the Raiden Shogun is easily led astray by a lack of statistics and inputs, and as a result sours her own name in the hearts of nearly half of her government's populace.
  • Though she is the God of Wisdom, Lesser Lord Kusanali began life with only the knowledge of a child, and was barred from learning in conventional ways. Additionally, because of her connection to dreams, the Akademiya despises her because dreams are seen as the complete opposite to wisdom.
  • One can interpret the God of Justice's own Heroic Sacrifice as a form of her being true to her own concept, as she returned the stolen power of the Sovereign back to Neuvillette, accepted judgement for Egeria and Fontaine's original sin, and went through a self-imposed execution for deceiving everyone, as well as for Furina's suffering. In other words, she actually gave herself justice.
• If players do not participate in the Midsummer Island Adventure, Klee still spends her summer with Jean and other friends at the Golden Apple Archipelago. Alice knew the Traveler and Paimon may have other priorities, which is why the trip was designed to go on even without their help. Similarly, events like the Windblume, Lantern Rite, and Moonchase Festival, also go on without the Traveler and Paimon's participation due to being a national holiday/celebration.
• Diona's grand plan to destroy the Mondstadt wine industry involves creating a drink so bad, it will turn drunkards off alcohol altogether from disgust alone. This ignores the fact that if she did succeed in making a horrible drink she'd likely be fired and/or the drunkards will just got to another tavern. However, Diona is still a child (most likely), and as any parent can attest to all it takes is one bad experience with a type of food to make a child swear off it entirely, so naturally she would think the same thing applies to alcohol.
• While it normally falls into Gameplay and Story Segregation, there are actual reasons as to why many five star characters aid you, since the majority of them have their own lives and purposes to fulfil i.e. Jean and Diluc are vigilante defenders of Mondstadt's peace, Keqing and Ganyu are Workaholics constantly trying to make Liyue a better place, Venti and Zhongli being the De Powered deities and protectors of their respective realms making it difficult for them to leave on a whim, Childe being aligned with the Fatui, etc.:
  • Venti says numerous times that he is very interested in the Traveler's journey and would like to sing it in it's entirety in the future, so he helps them so that they can see it through and he can watch it unfold from the front.
  • Diluc develops a soft spot for the Traveler due to their action-oriented mindset and he has traveled the world before so it wouldn't be out of character for him to aid the Traveler since they fight the Fatui and the Abyss Order on a nigh daily basis.
  • Jean would normally be the last person able to help with all the work she has......Except that she has about as much ability to say no as Noelle so it would only be a matter of the Traveler asking Jean for help and she would provide it.
  • As the Yuheng Keqing is in charge of civil affairs, meaning that she is likely the Traveler's boss in Liyue and, since the Traveler takes the most dangerous jobs available and the most tedious in equal measure that likely caught the eye of Keqing, workaholic that she is, and decided to aid them in their other jobs.
  • Childe helps the Traveler because they fight more and more powerful enemies and he likes their mentality far more than the other Harbinger's
  • Klee normally has to watch herself because the Knights of Favonious don't want her firing bombs all over the place, but because the Traveler is implied to not really care about the destruction she brings they let her tag along in their adventures (so long as it's aimed at the right targets that is).
  • Ganyu mentions that she would like to help the Traveler so when she is in the party she managed to find time off from her work.
  • Mona is a prideful woman but also a good person, for these two reasons she hates lying or swindling people and that is what she accidentally did to the Traveler during her character quest so she helps the Traveler in their adventures to pay off her debt.
  • Zhongli cannot tell the Traveler the truth of their sibling but it's made clear that he doesn't enjoy it so he likely helps them out in their journey as compensation for all the help they gave Liyue.
  • Albedo wants to see more of the Traveler's abilities up close so that they can make experiments.
  • Xiao is duty bound as the last Yaksha of Liyue, however, he also told the Traveler personally that they can call his name if they ever find themselves in trouble, if needed.
  • Eula is likely helping out under the excuse that she doesn't want anyone else denying her her revenge as an excuse.
  • As a Noble Fugitive and Vision user gone rogue to the Inazuma government, Kazuha would not be able to join the Traveler in their journey in risk of capture. However, as a wandering Samurai with a sense of wanderlust, Kazuha would be interested to join and accompany the Traveler in their journey before going his own way.
  • Ayaka personally heard the Traveler's feats and was very hopeful when she heard the news that they will be coming to Inazuma, hoping that the Traveler can help her and others in Inazuma to put an end to the Raiden Shogun's Vision Hunt Decree. However, as the Eldest Daughter of the Kamisato clan, her means to rebel are limited and she would still be bound to her duties in her family. But nevertheless, she will come to the Traveler's aid as much as possible.
  • Yoimiya is already a huge chatterbox and loves to meet new people, and she'd probably take traveling with the Traveller as an opportunity not only to meet new people, but also experiment with different Firework making methods, if she has freetime outside of making tons of Fireworks for the residents of Inazuma.
  • Morbid as it may be, it's not out of character for Hu Tao to actively search for people on their last breath or lost souls out in the open to put to rest. For a less morbid explanation: Hu Tao lends her aid to the Traveler to make up for her failed attempt at tracking down their twin using the other side in her Story Quest by accompanying them and talking to any lost souls they come across for clues and hints.
  • Qiqi gathers herbs for the Bubu Pharmacy, and joining the Traveler allows her the opportunity to find rarer plants to bring back. Alternatively, being a zombie, Baizhu could've just commanded her to go with the Traveler.
  • The Raiden Shogun, Ei, not the puppet, is personally intruiged by the Traveler, and while she still has her duties of watching over the entirety of Inazuma, she would definitely take what freetime she has to join the Traveller in their duties simply out of curiosity for the Traveler.
  • Sangonomiya Kokomi isn't that much different from Ayaka in that she is forced into a position of significant importance that she hates and desires to become a strategic advisor instead. By joining the Traveler in their endeavors for Watatsumi Island and beyond, Kokomi not only gets time off from her more hectic Divine Priestess duties, but also gets to live out the dream at the same time.
  • Arataki "Never Leaves A Homie Hangin'" Itto promises to find some way of repaying the Traveler for helping him out during his personal quest. Accompanying them on their journey could not only be a chance for Itto to repay the favor, but also an opportunity to earn some mora for himself and his gang.
  • Shenhe deeply values the Traveler's friendship after their ordeal and will do anything to keep them safe... even if it means laying waste to anything that so much as looks at them funny.
  • Yae Miko is interested in chronicling their journey across Teyvat in a light novel and would need to go with them in order to give her readers the full experience.
  • Yelan could ultimately accompany the Traveler on their adventure to gain some valuable intel from people they met for her career. She is also a known Thrill Seeker, and Traveler tends to end up right in the middle of major events.
  • Tighnari is interested in going around the forest to monitor it for threats, while ensuring that the ecosystem stays balanced.
  • Cyno, as the General Mahamatra would accompany the Traveler to help find fugitives trying to escape from their crimes.
  • Nilou has never left Sumeru City due to her busy performance schedule, but she wants to go on adventures with the Traveler, as long as she can adjust to them.
  • Nahida has been freed by the Traveler after half a millenium trapped within the Sanctuary of Surasthana, so she has to accompany them to adjust to life physically.
  • The Wanderer has a more personal reason to want to accompany the Traveler as since the Wanderer wants to get revenge on Il Doltore for killing Niwa, it would be hugely beneficial for the Ex-Harbinger to team-up with the Traveler as they are likely to encounter the Doctor again in their travels.
  • Alhaitham has his job as the Akademiya Scribe and stays out of the prying eyes of most people, but if his voiced lines are any indication, he has slowly warmed up to the Traveler after the Archon Quest and is willing to accompany them provided they don't cause trouble for him. Also since Alhaitham is quite curious about the world and its history, he would accompany the Traveler to learn more.
  • Dehya wishes for her people to extend their ambitions beyond the desert in one of her voiced lines, which is something she's able to do by accompanying the Traveler.
  • Baizhu would travel the world far and wide to find a way to free himself and Changsheng from their curse.
  • Unlike his siblings, Lyney is set up to be a successor for one of the Harbingers so he doesn't have as much freedom as they do, but takes a liking to the Traveler and is willing to spend time with them.
  • Neuvillette would accompany the Traveler to see how the world has changed after so many centuries, and to sample different kinds of water all across Teyvat.
  • Wriothesley has a knack for quickly accommodating his schedule to changes, such as a hangout with the Traveler. He would also return to the surface to negotiate with prisoners like he does in his Character Teaser.
  • Xianyun left Mt. Aocang to learn more about the modern human world. In addition, she admits to getting lonely when left alone. So it makes sense that she would accompany the Traveler, especially if one of her disciples, Ganyu or Shenhe, are along for the ride.
• In contrast with the 5 stars above, the 4 star characters tend to have much more leeway and freedom to join the Traveler's journey since they are either already travelers themselves, or find their interests coinciding with the Traveler's:
  • The initial trio of Amber, Kaeya and Lisa are doing their duty as Knights assisting the Traveler who is an Honorary Knight of Favonius their own self.
  • Bennett and Fischl are solo members of the Adventurer's Guild that the Traveler frequents, thus can easily request either to join the traveler on their expeditions.
  • Noelle, much like Jean can't refuse any request from the Traveler, but she also sees this as an opportunity to get stronger to join the Knights officially.
  • Barbara and Xinyan are known to be traveling musicians who go to other regions to hold concerts and gigs. Whose to say that they happen to go to another region to perform and that the Traveler is their bouncer.
  • After being disowned by Andrius, Razor is no longer tied to Wolvendom and is free to go wherever he pleases.
  • Sucrose and Diona are foragers constantly looking for new kinds of ingredients to expand their repertoire of alchemy and drink mixing.
  • The Liyue friend trio of Xiangling, Chongyun, and Xingqiu are already seasoned travelers with Xiangling going around to learn foreign specialties of cooking, Chongyun tracking down haunted sites to further his exorcist powers, while Xingqiu is trying to reenact the heroes of his martial arts novels by tracking down evildoers smiting them with his sword.
  • Despite being the leader of the Qixing, Ninguang has her workload stunted somewhat with the fall of the Jade Chamber, and joins the Traveler as a means to recover any bearings and profits.
  • As the prologue to the Inazuma chapter implies, Beidou's Crux Fleet becomes one of the Traveler's only means of getting around in the sea. Inazuma Act II has Beidou state that the Traveler is part of her crew and it is her duty as captain to protect them.
  • Yanfei has become the Traveler's legal expert following the Serenitea Pot quest, and she has been studying up on foreign laws and customs so that she can bail them out of legal hot water during their journey.
  • Sayu already shirks her duties on a regular basis, and joining the Traveler just gives her a way to do so without getting in trouble.
  • Kujou Sara has developed a hell of a grudge against the Fatui after they manipulated the events behind the Inazuma Civil War that she is willing to lend the Traveler her assistance to wipe the Fatui off the face of Teyvat.
  • Thoma, despite his loyalty to the Kamisato House, misses his home in Mondstadt and was looking for an opportunity to leave when the Sakoku Decree happened. With everything resolved, he is now free to take a breather from his duties and accompany the Traveler beyond Inazuma, especially to trips back to Mondstadt. Additionally, following the Traveler rescuing him, he swears to help them no matter what happens out of a sense of loyalty and friendship.
  • Yun Jin is a performer that dabbles in method acting, and joins the Traveler so that she can tell their tale with emotion and realism.
  • Shikanoin Heizou seeks to gain the reputation of such a great detective that would-be criminals would abandon their schemes before even trying, and accompanying Traveler would help spread that reputation far and wide. He also expresses interest in partnering up more in the future at the end of his Hangout Event.
  • Kuki Shinobu is a Jack of All Trades who is looking to expand her horizons beyond Inazuma and maintain her free-lance status, so accompanying the Traveler is just another form of a job.
  • Collei is a girl whose activities are restricted due to her case of Eleazar, so once she is cured by the end of the Sumeru Archon quest, she is now free to find her true calling in life by exploring the 7 nations.
  • Dori is a traveling merchant who is roaming all throughout Sumeru and Teyvat pawning her various curios and wares for the shiny mora and even took on the Traveler as an apprentice.
• miHoYo employing the Eastern order when dealing with Japanese names, whether the Inazuman characters or the real-life voice actors, makes sense; since Inazuma is inspired by pre-Meiji era Japan, where outside influences were forbidden under the decree of the Tokugawa shogunate.
• Prior to the release of the full Sumeru storyline, the Archons operate under the thesis that publicicty and power is corruptive. Both benevolent Archons have let their titles lapse and their identities go secret, and both antagonistic ones are publicly known and rule their nations. However, there is also an undertone of the humble being unable to compete with the corrupt and powerful, since their virtue isn't enough to outweigh force. This all changed when the benevolent Dendro Archon had decided to keep her title and identity at the end of her storyline.
• Ever wonder why Fatui Skirmishers are found on the outskirts of Mondstadt and Liyue? They actually serve two purposes.
  • For Mondstadt, they act as a backup plan in the event that their control over Mondstadt through diplomacy fail. In other words, the Skirmishers will be sent in to occupy the capital by force. The reason they are found more frequently in Dragonspine is because the region's climate is perfect for hiding out from the Favonian scouting party (as Dragonspine is considered dangerous for adventurers and knights to venture in, but since the Fatui came from Snezhnaya, a cold region, this isn't a problem for them), and formulating plans while awaiting further orders from their superiors.
  • For Liyue, that's because Childe/Tartaglia (the 11th Harbringer) would show up to initiate new recruits and teach them combat experience. Outside of initiation ceremonies, it is apparent that they are conducting reconnaissance operation on the Liyue ruins as they are commonly found there.
• At the Grand Narukami Shrine, there is a sacred sakura tree that one of the priestesses can be heard praying will "bloom for eternity". In real life Japan however, the beauty of the sakura is in its ephemeral nature, that it can only be appreciated for a relatively fleeting moment before it fades. This effectively demonstrates how unnatural Baal's ideals are in chilling bit of Shown Their Work.
• In hindsight, Kazuha's design being different from the other Anemo Vision wielders makes sense. Compare to other Anemo Vision wielders who are known for being revered by people or having a high rank in society and their workplace, Kazuha is basically a nobody and a criminal at the same time. While he is part of the Resistance and Beidou's Crux Fleet, he's just a member, not some high ranking official. Which fits him pretty well since he prefers being free from any high ranking ties and chooses to stay at his own feet as a nobody to society, this makes him some kind of an anomaly to other Anemo vision wielders as a result.
• The Ruin Sentinels and Perpetual Mechanical Array stand out from other Automatons due to taking the shape of a simple cube when dormant and then transform when active. Fitting for their region based on Japan, their concept brings to mind Origami, the art of folding (mostly square) paper into creatures and objects. Ruin Sentinels are based on more traditional Origami, which are animals and living creatures, while the PMA is more on modern Origami, taking the form of rockets and cannons.
• The Fatui seem to have a very minimal presence in Inazuma compared to the other regions. That's because Mondstadt and Liyue have many legitimate Snezhnayan businesses that can serve as cover for Fatui operations. However, in Inazuma foreigners are largely restricted to a single port, which limits the Fatui's ability to sneak in agents, with them only doing so to help the corrupt commissioners in their plans like with Nathan.
• The elements of the Inazuma characters are well-chosen given the conflict in the chapter.
  • Electro manifests in Baal and those close to her, while the heroes are more equipped to fight them. With Ayaka, the first major player met in the resistance within Inazuma, her Cryo element serves as a perfect counter to Baal, the Electro Archon oppressing the region. Similarly, Thoma and Yoimiya, fellow rebels, are Pyro users who also have an advantage against Electro. The only Electro characters from Inazuma are Baal, her only friend Yae and her loyal enforcer Sara, while only Kokomi (Hydro) has an outright weakness on the rebel side.
  • On the other side of the coin, Ayaka and Yoimiya synergizes very well with the Traveler who can now use said Archon's element of Electro, which is appropriate since Ayaka and Yae consider them to be the lynchpin of change that can overturn the Raiden Shogun's decree. Given that the Traveler's Electro skill-set focuses on supporting their team, they can be considered the Electro Archon's antithesis. This becomes eminent in the fight against La Signora who utilizes both Cryo and Pyro, Ayaka and Yoimiya's elements, in her duel against the Traveler, who could wield Electro. Even more fittingly, once La Signora (Pyro/Cryo) loses the duel, she is executed by the Raiden Shogun (Electro).
  • Hilariously, Ayaka, Yoimiya and Kokomi all have a means to continue fighting Ei with elements even after the Shogun enacts the "Vision Hunt Decree" sealing the use of Visions since Ayaka's alternate sprint "Senho", Yoimiya's unique charged bow attack and Kokomi's catalyst attack "Shape of Water" aren't affected, allowing them to continue applying Elemental states for reactions with the Electro Traveler who can use their Elemental Skill and Burst unimpeded.
• The reason why the playable Inazuma characters are more powerful in comparison to the other more relatively peaceful nation's allogenes is that because of the rising conflict in Inazuma and the lack of Vision wielders to combat it due to the Vision Hunt Decree, the remaining wielders had to become stronger to compensate for the gap in power.
• Each of the nations of Teyvat currently playable are shown to have the perfect environments for their respective Archons:
  • Mondstadt, land of the Anemo Archon, is a land of rolling plains and numerous seaside cliffs, both of which are known for being exceptionally windy.
  • Liyue, land of the Geo Archon, is dominated by rocky, mountainous landforms and has a massive subterranean cave network in the form of the Chasm.
  • Inazuma, land of the Electro Archon, is an island chain far out at sea, making it prone to more frequent and powerful storms.
  • Sumeru, land of the Dendro Archon, is overgrown with lush plant life forming acres of rainforests across most of the region and signifying nature's dominance. By contrast, its arid deserts are nearly devoid of plant life, testing the limits of just how far life can spread under extreme conditions.
  • Fontaine, land of the Hydro Archon, is a series of large islands in a massive, elevated lake with a vast underwater ecosystem and is surrounded on all sides by waterfalls.
• Baal possessing a robot-like doll is plausible when one remembers that she is the Electro Archon. It is likely she can transform into pure electricity to power up and control the doll much like how Venti can disappear into the air due to being the Anemo Archon.
• Ei implies that Makoto's body became the Sacred Sakura on Narukami. This means that between the Electroculi offered to the Statues of the Seven and the Electro Sigils given to the Sacred Sakura, the player has been paying respects to both of Inazuma's Archons the whole time.
• Unlike with Mondstadt and Liyue, who essentially shared bosses as their materials could ascend characters from both regions, all of Inazuma's characters are ascended exclusively with materials from bosses in Inazuma. This not only incentivizes engagement with new content, but fits very well with Inazuma being a sealed nation. With nobody able to leave, it only makes sense that the playable Inazumans would need to be ascended by boss drops only within Inazuma. In contrast, Mondstadt and Liyue canonically have a close relationship, with Ningguang and Jean often writing to the other, and their two Archons being long time friends, so it would only make sense that the characters there can share bosses with each other.
• Starting the Fishing Minigame automatically switches the current character to the Traveler. Fishing is their favorite hobby, after all.
• Raiden Shogun being a supporting character in combat despite her hands-on personality and more frequent usage as a main damage dealer makes sense, because of how thanks to the Traveler, she's learning to once again open up to other people. Which in turn, is giving her an incentive to protect them, as demonstrated by her Elemental Skill allowing her to strike enemies when not in the field.
• Knowing miHoYo very well, Kazuha being the one who took the blow meant for the player is actually foreshadowed not only from the name of his constellation (The Japanese and Chinese version specifically), but also the continuous theme that all Anemo Vision wielders had, freedom. As the stories goes on, Kazuha starts to slowly parallel Venti's, or more rightly Barbatos', idea on freedom. Kazuha's backstory is also very similar to him as well; both of them start off as a nobody, befriended someone and lose said friend because of a war with a dictator god, and ultimately their actions on avenging said friend end up with a major turn of event that neither of them saw coming at all (Venti becoming an Archon; Kazuha being the one who briefly awakens his friend's Vision). This makes Kazuha the closest person ever to Venti by proxy in upholding his ideals, up to his kit having many similarities to him.
• The last time the Traveler encountered Signora, Paimon remarks how they still need to get all 7 elements before they can have a good shot at fighting her. However, Signora is defeated only after obtaining three. The reason? The Traveler only had access to Anemo and Geo at that time. Both are dependent on other elements to create a reaction. Signora isn't always afflicted with Pyro/Cryo, so Swirl/Crystallize won't happen as often. Electro, however, afflicts Signora with a status effect that can then be used to create elemental reactions. As a result, with Electro, the Traveller has a basis for those elemental reactions at their control which results in stronger damage.
• Many people have noticed how elemental slimes (large ones specifically) foreshadow aspects of the archons they share their element with. Of the four archons released so far this trend seems to hold true, however only time will tell if this trend will continue.
  • Anemo slimes create an updraft like Venti does in his kit. Venti is also the weakest of The Seven, and the Anemo slime is the only one that can be killed in one blow- when they are flying.
  • Geo slimes have a geo shield, like how Zhongli has a shield in his kit.
  • There are two types of Electro slimes, foreshadowing the fact that there were always two electro archons, Ei and her sister Makoto who ruled together and supported each other, like the slimes. Another reference to the archons is the fact that the purple version is more common, as Ei who they represent (due to her name meaning shadow) is still alive, while the yellow ones are rarer potentially because of Makoto's death. Alternatively, the yellow slimes being referred to as "mutants" could refer to the idea that there was only meant to be one Electro Archon or refers to the world's ignorance that there were two, as, without the knowledge that two Archons existed, the second Slime variety would be considered an aberration.
  • The Dendro slimes are always hidden, poised to attack unsuspecting Travelers. Nahida herself is practically concealed from her own subjects due to being locked up by the sages and must seek other indirect means to make contact with the outside world, often surprising people with unexpected truths. In a similar case, larger Dendro slimes divide itself to smaller Dendro slimes once it's nearly dying, reflecting how Nahida is a reincarnation of Rukkhadevata.
  • Hydro slimes are infamously known for trapping characters in bubbles. As the Hydro Archon is the God of Justice, this can be viewed as a metaphor for how justice can ultimately make people be locked up in prison if proven guilty. Additionally, this can also be viewed as how because of Focalors, Furina felt trapped into pretending that she is somebody that she isn't. Also, Focalors is inside the Oratrice for five centuries as well. Like Furina, they can also walk on water.
  • The Cryo slimes create cold spiky shells to protect their soft bodies, much like how the Tsaritsa is described as taking on a cold and thorny persona, despite her being really kind deep down, as a deterrent and "shield."
• Aside from the Anemo Slime, the rest of the 6 when paired separately have distinctive similarities: Both the Pyro and Hydro slimes have horns, the Electro and Dendro slimes have a protruding artifice on the top of their head, and finally the Cryo and Geo slimes create protective armor that blocks most attacks. If the Chess Motif on the Archon's Gnosis is of any indication, these similarities may serve as foreshadowing to the shape of the Gnosis of future regions, such as the shape of the Tsaritsa's Gnosis being a Rook. In the case of the Electro and Dendro Slimes, their similarity may allude to how the Archon Quests of Inazuma and Sumeru are closely linked, with the consequences of Inazuma's civil war directly resulting in the God Creation plot in Sumeru, and how eventually both the Electro and Dendro Gnoses were wielded together to save Irminsul.
• The dangerous nature of the Fatui Delusions was hinted at early in the manga when Diluc's father Crepus died from using one, but it's not until Version 2.1 in the game proper that we get to see first hand what these effects are when people use them, slowly sapping them of their vitality and inducing Rapid Aging until they die from health complications of old age. Many have wondered how some of the Harbingers themselves can use Delusions without ever succumbing to their effects, but there are a few likely explanations:
  • Signora is a demigod who gave up her humanity 500 years ago, making her effectively immortal from natural progression of aging.
  • Childe trained in the Abyss at a young age, so it's likely from his Training from Hell that he developed some resistance towards the Delusion's effects. Childe also has a Vision which might counteract the effects of a Delusion.
  • Arlecchino is Ambiguously Human given her blackened forearms, a trait shared by Caterpillar, an immortal.
• The Crimson Witch of Flames' Goblets of Eonotherm can have Cryo Damage as a main stat, on a set designed for Pyro characters. However, La Signora, the actual Crimson Witch of Flames, was gifted a Cryo delusion to counteract her self-immolating Pyro powers.
• Andrius keeping Razor out of the fight against the wolves invading Wolvendom, specifically citing Razor's usage of swords and lightning as opposed to fangs and claws, makes more sense when they are revealed to be Rifthounds. Rifthound attacks inflict corrosion, which must be counteracted by raw healing. Depending on how that works in-universe, if it behaves like Hollywood Acid then Razor's claymore, which is just a tool and thus can't heal, might not hold up in a protracted conflict. Similarly, one of the revealed breeds is the Thundercraven, which grows more aggressive when hit by Electro at the cost of lowering its Electro Res. Razor is presumably the only member of the pack able to use Electro, so he would be the only one able to benefit from the Electro Res drop, while the entire pack would have to suffer through the offensive frenzy.
• Ayaka gifting a custom White Heron hairpin to the Traveler is her way of discreetly proposing to them, as in Chinese customs a girl would give her love interest her hairpin, which they would then return to her at their wedding ceremony.
• Inazuma's Oni bloodline being allergic to soy beans is a reference to the Real Life Japanese festival Setsubun, where citizens carry wood blocks filled with soy beans that they toss to repel evil spirits.
• Itto is noted to retain his passionate personality despite losing his Vision if his bulletin board posts and character demo are of any indication. That's because he's one of the very few people who doesn't rely on his Vision which reflects on his gameplay. Unlike many of the other playable characters, Itto's fighting style focuses entirely on his Normal Attack Talent: Fight Club Legend, and his Elemental skill only enhances the mechanics of his strikes while his burst just gives him a bigger smashing implement to smack people with. Meaning while Itto is already powerful with a Vision, he's also powerful without it since he's strong enough to realize his ambitions.
• Despite the game allowing characters of any age to fight equally dangerous battles, their kits reflect on their age group. Older characters like Diluc, Kaeya, and Keqing are combat-oriented and can hold their own on-field. Younger characters like Bennett, Xingqiu, and Fischl can deal damage but still work best with others. The youngest characters need other people to maximize their efficiency in battle due to lacking raw firepower and being more fragile. Meanwhile Zhongli, the oldest playable character, is also the tankiest. Their most preferred playstyles also reflect this. Young characters are brought in to cast their Burst/Skill and nothing more, then brought back into safety while the adults handle the rest.
• Kokomi fretting on numerous occasions during her story quest about the Kamisato Clan's possible involvement in Watatsumi's troubles from the Shogunate comes across as rather odd, as at the time the playerbase's only contact with the clan was through Thoma and Ayaka, who are both friendly enough individuals that Kokomi can come off as excessively paranoid. Her worries are much more well-founded after the introduction of Ayato; while he's also rather amicable, he is also a crafty enough individual to effortlessly maneuver the Tri-Commission's rather cutthroat politics. This is demonstrated by how easily he dismantled Matsuura's power grab, to the point where Matsuura's faction willingly gave up and took the responsibility of cleaning up the mess they made, and thus likely received the brunt of the public's displeasure. Kokomi has her hands quite full with shouldering the burden of leading Watatsumi as is, and her story teaser implies that she isn't particularly good at reading people, so she'd have every reason to be wary of the threat of actual political intrigue, a battlefield in which Ayato is extremely skilled in.
• Why did Thoma not realize that Itto would have an allergic reaction to beans? It's a rather glaring and uncharacteristic oversight on Thoma's part. Well to start with, Itto's a Small Name, Big Ego figure, and this is evidently the first time that he and Thoma have met face to face. They only know each other by reputation and hearsay, and Itto's allergies aren't as likely a topic of conversation as his beetle fights and general mischief. That said, it's common knowledge in Inazuma that the way to deal with oni is to throw beans at them, so it ought to be obvious that they shouldn't mix. However, remember that Thoma wasn't born in Inazuma, but rather in Mondstadt. Sure, he's half Inazuman, and has been in the country for awhile, but he's probably been preoccupied with fitting in and doing his duty to the Kamisato Clan, so in depth analysis of the local folklore was likely low on his list of priorities. In addition, in Itto's Story Quest it was mentioned that the oni bean allergy has largely weakened with the dilution of the oni bloodline, so even most modern oni aren't usually more than a bit inconvenienced. It's likely that Thoma may have mistakenly assumed that it's not an actual problem, and didn't make the connection until Itto, one of the unlucky few for whom it manifested in full force, collapsed on the spot.
• On the topic of Thoma; other than him and Ei, everyone in Inazuma refers to Yae Miko as "Lady Yae". In Japan, region which Inazuma is based off of, people usually refer to others respectfully, using the other person's surname instead of their name, which is the equivalent to referring to someone as "Sir" or "Lady" overseas. Thoma, on the other hand, is only half-Inazuman and native to Mondstadt; thus, it would make sense he wouldn't be used to the customs, yet still respectfully refers to Yae Miko as "Lady Miko" instead of "Lady Yae".
• Itto butting heads with Yelan immediately after meeting her for the first time makes more sense when one recalls that, back in Inazuma, Itto is already at odds with a tall dark haired woman with an asymmetrical haircut who holds a position of authority and wields a bow.
• Bennett wielding Harbinger of Dawn in his wish art. Its crit rate increasing passive can only be triggered when the wielder's HP is above 90%...and Bennett's Elemental Burst only heals up to 70% of HP. Unfortunate indeed. Additionally, the sword itself, according to its lore, has the dubious honor of only ever claiming a single life: its past owner's.^note The past owner pulled the sword out on the battlefield at night, and the light reflected off the blade alerted the enemy archers.
• In the Tevyat Chapter Storyline Preview video, Dainsleif has this to say in regards to the Dendro Archon Kusanali: "The God of Wisdom's enemy is wisdom itself." This plays out in several ways:
  • Wisdom is gained through life experiences, and Kusanali is the youngest Archon at a mere 500 years old. While that may be incredibly old by human standards, for an immortal god 500 years is but a blink of the eye, and certainly not enough time to learn the lessons that would make her worthy of the title "The God of Wisdom." Just compare to her fellow Archons, who are each thousands of years old.
  • The Sumeru chapter brings us another interpretation: We find out that the Sages of the Akademiya are using the Akasha, described as the collected wisdom of the people of Sumeru, to suppress the knowledge of Kusanali and preventing her from helping her people as much as she'd like.
  • The 3.1 and 3.2 Archon quests introduced some Fridge Horror regarding Dainsleif's line of how wisdom is the God of Wisdom's greatest enemy: Forbidden Knowledge. It's revealed in the former archon quest that the Scarlet King contaminated Irminsul with Forbidden Knowledge to try to discover the secret to immortality, which caused the withering and the Eleazar to ravage Sumeru, forcing him to perform a Heroic Sacrifice along with Rukkhadevata being depowered to remove the Forbidden Knowledge from Irminsul. However, the latter quest reveals that not all of the Forbidden Knowledge was purged from Irminsul, and Rukkhadevata was contaminated with Forbidden Knowledge herself, forcing her to create a new God of Wisdom to purge her conciseness from Irminsul. And when Nahida explains that Forbidden Knowledge is a "truth" that no-one, not even gods, can comprehend as well as the fact that Forbidden Knowledge came from the bottom of the Abyss, it could very well be a case of how These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.
• Kaeya, Razor, Kazuha and Heizou all have sprinting stamina consumption decrease as their utility passive. All of them were too late to save someone dear to them at some point in their lives — Kaeya arrived at the scene of Fatui ambush when his adoptive father was already dead, Razor could only fight off the Abyss mage that hurt his wolven companions after they died in the fight, Kazuha arrived at Tenshukaku right as his friend was executed by Raiden Shogun, and Heizou found his friend barely a minute after the latter got stabbed in the heart by a ruffian.
• In Mondstadt, roses symbolize secrets. La Signora has a subtle motif of twin roses going on in her design — a rose on either hip of her dress, and her hair being done in two half buns which resemble roses. La Signora's Cryo Delusion hides her Crimson Witch of Flames identity, and before Crimson Witch of Flames there was an ordinary girl from Mondstadt named Rosalyne.
• Despite claiming to be in Perpetual Poverty, Mona is revealed in the Summertime Odyssey event to have a very lavishly decorated apartment. While it comes as a shock to all the characters in the event, there's a clever bit of foreshadowing to this reveal. The reason she's strapped for cash is because she immediately goes and spends it on some rare and/or expensive items, so naturally all these objects would pile up until she's living in the lap of luxury (if still struggling to actually obtain Mora in the first place).
• It's no wonder why Kusanali looks like a child. After all, she is the youngest Archon out of them all.
• Each of the Ideals possessed by the Archons has some sort of contradiction, whether that be with the Region itself, or its element:
  • Freedom: While this suits the element of Anemo (wind), the Ideal seems to clash against the concept of gods directly ruling over their lands. This may mean that this ideal contradicts Celestia itself.
  • Eternity: Lightning is there and gone in an instant, the farthest thing from the never-changing eternity once sought after by Ei, before the Traveler convinced her to instead pursue an eternity of constant change (like energy is always in flux, constantly changing).
  • Contracts: The laws that Rex Lapis gave to Liyue, along with their proper application, granted his land much stability and wealth, making it the most prosperous of the seven nations; however, as Yanfei -a law expert herself- points out, rules also need to adapt to the individuals and a rigid adherence to law can become a detriment as well. To use physical terms, a rigid object is also a brittle object, and indeed, this brittleness showed when Rex Lapis died and his country was sent into a crisis in part because there was no precedent on what to do if their leader was gone. And even after the crisis was over, Keqing herself often comments how they had taken Rex Lapis for granted and now the Qixing have pretty big shoes to fill.
  • Wisdom: Wisdom transforms people and allows them to grow, much like a plant created by Dendro. However, the Sages of the Akadamiya refuse to grow beyond the death of their god and cling to the old concepts of Wisdom: rational and thought, far from the folly of "dreams" and festivals, which seems to be what Lesser Lord Kusanali promotes. Dreams seem to be the farthest thing from Wisdom, but they do allow for spontaneous thought and inspiration. Without this inspiration (Ambition, one might say), the Nation of Wisdom is stagnating, unable to grow.
  • Justice: In order to save her people, Focalors instructed someone to commit a crime in the form of impersonating a god. She also refused to let Celestia kill-off all of Fontaine's residents despite the fact that in their eyes, their own creation is actually a sin.
• Shinobu is regarded in gameplay to be an excellent enabler for Dendro reactions. Her Elemental Burst's description states that it is a technique used for yearly harvests.
• Why is Dendro the element associated with wisdom? Because it is the only element whose basis- plants, in this case- are organisms ^note  The other elements are based on scientific phenomena (Pyro, Electro, Anemo) or non-organisms (Cryo, Geo, Hydro). Organisms can grow, and thus gain wisdom through their accumulated experience and knowledge.
• The Akademiya shun Kusanali and desire for a God of Wisdom more like Rukkhadevata but in doing so, they make some very unwise choices like working with the Fatui and harming the people Rukkhadevata loved. By casting aside Kusanali, they cast aside wisdom and made foolish choices.
• For all of their delusions of grandeur, the Akademiya's disdain of dreams and the arts for being childish is actually a reflection not only of their snobbishness, but also of their immature and adolescent mindset: one of the key steps in being a mature person is the ability to stop being bothered by one's own silliness and embrace it to properly grow, something that the sages refuse to do on a societal level as they cling to the memory of Rukkhadevata like a kid clings to their parent. On that note, there's a great degree of irony that Kusanali, despite looking like a child, ends up being the far more mature person in the room in comparison to the elderly sages like Azar.
• Rukkhadevata's power is a shade of blue-green in contrast to Kusanali's more yellowish shade of green. In certain cultures' older color theories, blue and green were regarded as different shades of a certain color. Ancient China was one of these cultures, and gave this color to the Azure Dragon of the Four Symbols, which also represents "Wood" in the Five Elements system.
• Why did the Traveler use an Anemo attack in order to free Nahida in Chapter III Act V? Because the Anemo Archon is the God of Freedom.
• The name Lesser Lord Kusanali is still what the people sometimes refer to Nahida as despite there now being no Greater Lord Rukkhadevata. Why is that? It's possible the sages forced the people to refer to Kusanali as Lesser Lord because her current state is lesser than what she used to be. And unfortunately the name stuck and will likely be like that for some time before Kusanali's title changes back to the normal Dendro Archon Kusanali title.
• Noelle clearly admires Jean, as shown in her voice line for her, but the extent to how much she idolizes Jean can also be seen in her backstory and abilities:
  • Jean is a Workaholic, literally working herself sick for the people of Mondstadt. Noelle likewise is a workaholic, but to Extreme Doormat levels, literally unable to say no to any request.
  • Jean is a sword user. Noelle originally tried to train in swords and was forced to switch to claymores after she kept destroying her training swords.
  • Jean has an Anemo Vision. When Noelle received her Vision, she was disappointed to learn it was Geo rather than Anemo, feeling that Anemo would've be a better fit for a Knight of Favonius.
  • Jean's Passive Talent Wind Companion gives her a chance to heal allies on every hit. Noelle's Breastplate Skill gives her the exact same ability (only Jean's healing is based on her ATK and Noelle's is based on her DEF).
  • Jean's Burst Dandelion Breeze continuously heals allies and damages enemies. When combined with Breastplate and with her first Constellation unlocked, Noelle's Burst Sweeping Time does the same with every hit.
• Why do Fungi and Riftwolves congregate at Withering Zones? Because Fungi are saprophytic, meaning it obtains nourishment from decaying organic matter that comes from the dying of plants around the Withering Zone (though this has the side-effect of making them Scorched and berserk), whereas Riftwolves are Abyss creatures capable of unleashing corrosion that harms living things.
• So far, Fischl hasn't had many opportunities to demonstrate her strong intuition, but when you really think about it it makes sense that she would have it. As an Occidental Otaku, Fischl is self-aware that she exists in an anime-like world, and she is herself an anime-like character, so the world must work in anime-like ways.
• Why is the symbol for Dendro in the shape of a heart? Wisdom isn't simply knowledge, but lessons accumulated over the span of a lifetime, or possibly several lifetimes when handed down from across generations. The lessons that stick, however trivial, are often interwoven with powerful emotions - they are the things that you take to heart. This further highlights how little Akademiya understands about Wisdom. In sacrificing all sentiment, they have forsaken an important part of the learning process altogether, and with the Akasha available to instantly store information they never realize how badly that cripples intellectual development in Sumeru. It is fitting then that Nahida and Rukkhadevata, the Gods of Wisdom, have their strong love for the people as their most memorable characteristic.
• To uncover the last memory of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, Nahida uses the power of Dendro and Electro Gnoses. Gameplay-wise, using Electro on Tri-Lakshana Creatures releases a Truesense Pulse, which reveals hidden things.
• During one of Layla's idle animations, she summons the Celestial Dreamsphere she uses for her Elemental Burst and messes around with it before becoming momentarily dazed and needing to catch the centerpiece. The Celestial Dreamsphere happens to resemble a mobile you'd see attached to a crib, which are meant to pacify infants and help them sleep.
• Wanderer's line towards the Raiden Shogun is quite bitter, but shouldn't he have learned the truth behind the three "betrayals"? Yes, and that's probably why he's bitter toward her. The child could not help dying, and it turned out that Niwa hadn't done anything wrong. The thing is, Niwa's death (and the Tatarasuna incident as a whole) happened because the Fatui learned of Scaramouche's existence and sought to corrupt and manipulate him to their side. The Wanderer derisively mocks her reasoning that she "couldn't bring herself to intervene in [his] fate", because if she had intervened, then not only would he and many others have been spared a lot of suffering, but the people he cared about would have lived much longer lives.
• Wanderer wears his Vision on his left breast, and can even be caught admiring it during one of his idle animations. Obtaining a Vision has, in a manner of speaking, granted his wish to have a heart.
• During the initial reveal of Scaramouche's playable form as the Wanderer, there was some confusion over his element being Anemo instead of Electro. However, it ends up making perfect sense since Japanese mythology has two storm gods, the brothers (and sometimes rivals) that command thunder and the wind. The Raiden Shogun is based on the god of thunder and lightning, while the Wanderer is based on the wind god, Fujin, often described as a blue or green skinned wizard with a traveling bag on his shoulder.
• Nahida's punishment of the Sages with permanent exile to the forest might seem far too lenient for all the evil they've done. Once you play through her Character Quest however, her course of action suddenly makes a lot more sense. To Nahida, death is far too lenient of a punishment, as it means the wicked gets to escape any further judgment and doesn't have to face the full repercussions of their crimes, like Moseis did when he tried to let himself fade away. Add onto the fact that the forest is a very well-known hostile environment, and you have a recipe for immense suffering for those pathetic Sages. And if they do die in their exile? Well, that's not Nahida's problem anymore, is it?
• Players have noted the similarities between Wanderer's normal attacks, and the Maguu Kenki boss. This makes perfect sense when looking at the lore, because the Maguu Kenki was designed to mimic the fighting style of Iwakura Doukei, the heir of the Mikoshi Clan. The Wanderer originally lived at Tatarasuna with the subordinates of Mikoshi Nagamasa, Iwakura's adopted brother. As such, he would have been taught the same (or similar) techniques as what was programmed into the Maguu Kenki.
• Yaoyao is a character with a rabbit Animal Motif who first became playable in the year 2023- and 2023 in the Chinese zodiac calendar is the Year of the Rabbit.
• Similar to Dungeons & Dragons, The Sumeru Archon quest highlights the main differences between intelligence and wisdom, the former being based on logical thinking and concentration, and the latter being based on understanding emotions, perception, and being able to use said intellect. Mainly with the playable cast:
  • Alhaitham is the prime example of both; he's an academic genius, but caught on to the fact that the sages were planning on essentially throwing him away the moment he would have been deemed useless. Thus, he creates a convoluted plan to overthrow them instead. He's also shown to be perceptive and willing to understand the way others think to further his own view of the world, best shown when he was gathering intel from the residents of Aaru Village and asked the Traveler to understand Shani's perspection.
  • Cyno could also be considered intelligent (such as noticing something was amiss when denied the chance to audit a project), but he makes a wise decision to leave his position temporarily so he can investigate as to what's going on without being hindered by his superiors.
  • Tighnari is a brilliant alumnus of the Akademiya who also has values that he is unwilling to give up for a higher position. He is also very perceptive outside of his field, such as when he rightfully suspects the Fatui of being up to no good in Pardis Dhyai, or when he realizes in his Story Quest that Karkata was an empathetic, sentient being even if it was declared a failed experiment for not fitting the standards of the project that built it.
  • Nilou, Candace, and Dehya are examples of characters that are average intellect at best but have shown great examples of wisdom.
    • Nilou felt most comfortable doing what she does best. When asked to debate, she panics and states she shouldn't, saying she isn't good at arguments.
    • Candace stays at Aaru village as its sole defender and does not feel comfortable leaving, being the only known significant fighter there.
    • Dehya turns down a position for a desk job at the Akademia, stating she wouldn't enjoy it. She's also good with her surroundings, making a false claim realizing they were likely being spied on.
• Why can Bathysmal Vishaps evolve into Rimeeater and Bolteaters? Why not a Pyro Bathysmal Vishap? The people of Enkanomiya tried to force such an evolution by exposing Bathysmal vishaps to pyro, but while it gained resistance it didn't take on the element. It makes sense however if one considers how Hydro-based reactions work. Vaporize is instantaneous and wipes out both elemental auras. Freeze and Electro-charged however are persistent reactions that allow the involved elements to coexist. In other words, Rimeeaters and Bolteaters are nothing more than permanently Frozen and Electro-charged Bathysmal Vishaps, respectively.
• Nahida seems awfully sure that humans and vishaps will never truly understand one another. All one really needs to do is take a hard look at how Apep's guardian lets off energy bursts shaped like DNA helixes. Apep and the Dendro Archons are both themed after life, but where the Gods of Wisdom were focused on living beings' capacity to overcome challenges by learning, Apep emphasizes adaptation to hostile environments by natural selection. In other words, Archon and Sovereign are on completely opposite sides of the Nature Versus Nurture debate when it comes to their subjects.
• Cyno's jokes, most notably his puns, are reacted to with a Lame Pun Reaction from most people, except Charlotte, Albedo and Nahida who enjoys them. There are a few reasons for this:
  • All three have Seen It All in regards to corny/terrible wordplay-based jokes, such as what Cyno often does in his attempts at humour. Nahida and Albedo, having lived for several centuries, have likely seen their fair share of terrible/corny comedy, enough that they eventually stopped caring about the quality of the jokes and learnt to laugh along regardless. Meanwhile, Charlotte's work as a journalist entails writing articles on a regular basis, and she has likely used her fair share of wordplay/puns to attract readers.
  • Cyno's habit of explaining his jokes' premises in detail also helps here: Albedo, as captain of the Investigation Team of the Knights of Favonius, likely has had to write reports in regards to various cases he solved. Nahida outright states that she has to explain some of her metaphors to people who do not understand them at first. Charlotte, meanwhile, has to explain what is happening and/or what her particular article is writing about. All three are familiar with having to explain something at length, like Cyno does with his jokes.
• Layla being the free character obtained from the "Secret Summer Paradise" event seems like an odd choice as Layla has nothing to do with the event and isn't even mentioned. However, during the Returning Curios questline, the second memento obtained is heavily implied to have been left by Layla, with the details in the attached note fitting Layla's description (Rtawahist student, fell asleep only to wake up in a strange place, requested an isolated place to rest). Not only that, but the items left behind where gifts from Idyia that, while not described, would've undoubtedly been meant to help her. Such as the gift of another star unlocked in Layla's Constellation.
• Kaeya's 1st Constellation, Excellent Blood, gives him a 15% Crit Rate increase on his normal and charged attacks against opponents affected by Cryo if it is unlocked. This likely stems from how he joined the Knights of Favonius long before he received his vision, and had to rely much more on his sword skills to keep up with Diluc, who had a vision.
  • A bit of Fridge Sadness: With all his Constellations and Talents unlocked, Kaeya is a very efficient One-Man Army who can dish out damage as well as heal himself, shield himself at low HP, recharge his burst very quickly, and even extend its duration and damage output. As someone who often ends up relying on himself and has trouble trusting others with his true self, he would have a kit that reflects that.
  • In a way, his kit also reflects how much he shines when he lets others in or works well with them (such as during the 3.8 Summer Paradise event or his Hangout Quests). While he can heal and shield himself, the effect is very minimal on its own, but when paired with many other characters' supportive skills and bursts (such as Bennett's Fantastic Voyage) his performance in battle significantly shines.
• One can gain insights into Azar's complex about Akademiya's stagnation with the introduction of the Fontaine Research Institute:
  • Fontaine is a highly advanced and industrialized society with widespread implementation of technology at practically every level of life. In contrast, while Akademiya itself shows some evidence of progress, on a societal level the Dharma Forest doesn't have much in the way of technological advancement. It's easy to see how the so-called nation of Wisdom would be embarrassed to be woefully behind one of their neighbors.
  • Azar's obsession with focusing Sumeru's human and material resources entirely on scholarly pursuits can be seen as doomed from the start if one considers exactly how industrialization works. Take a concept, fashion it into something to be produced en masse for widespread use, and then start making it. Over time, people will get better at making the existing concept, and will also gradually perfect that concept, or find other things that it's good for. In this way, much of the R&D is either outsourced or pays for itself, which in turn can go back into perfecting the product even further. Akademiya on the other hand encourages its researchers to jealously hoard their own secrets and work on them in private. A handful of minds can only do so much, and this approach also encourages people to make Awesome, but Impractical inventions for the sake of stroking their egos as opposed to ones that are more Boring, but Practical that can be usefully implemented. Technology should serve the people, and no amount of research will do any good if it doesn't actually get used for societal development.
  • There's also a bit amount of Irony as well with the whole situation. As the Fontaine Research Institute of Kinetic Energy Engineering side story shows that the institute attempt to create a new energy ending up Gone Horribly Wrong that it was abondoned and the researcher decided to use the old way while trying to find a way to incorporating a new safer way with the old one to preventing the same mistake from ever happening again, especially considering the fact some of the more radical scientist doesn't really care for the collateral damage they done winds up getting caught red-handed and eventually brought to the prison for their crime. This shows how oblivious and incompetent Azar is to his action, as he thinks he was the right one by trying to copying Fontaine's technology to Sumeru's technology regardless of the consequences, not realizing of how flawed Fontaine highly advanced and industrialized society actually is.
• People are often confused as to how Clorinde could help Wriothesley keep the Primordial Seawater at bay, since she's an Electro Vision holder and he's a Cryo Vision holder. The Superconduct reaction deals Cryo damage in an area, so Clorinde's Electro attacks would actually help spread Wriothesley's Cryo application against the water to freeze it more effectively.
• While the Traveler is undoubtedly rather cold to Lyney and Lynette following the trial, especially considering they've befriended people like Childe and the Wanderer, it's important to keep a few things in mind:
  • While being Fatui alone would complicate any friendship, Lyney and Lynette aren't just any ordinary Fatui. For the Traveler, the bigger problem is that they're from the House of Hearth. It's all well and good for Lyney to say that each Harbinger has different aims, but the idea that Arlecchino might be one of the "good" ones is undermined quite a bit by the Traveler's prior encounters with Lyney's "siblings". Their first run-in involves stopping them from further destabilizing Inazuma's fragile peace, and their most recent encounter with Trofin "Alphonso" Snezhevich can end with the Traveler dealing with him one way or another for arranging child kidnappings. The only two members met previously that weren't evil, Lyudochka and Katarina, are both deserters, so the Traveler has no reason to trust that any loyal member of the House of Hearth won't, at bare minimum, be another Trofin, who endangered the very children who looked up to him, and whom he claims to have come to care for. The Traveler only has the twins' word that the House of Hearth is trying to save Fontaine this time, and Lyney has just demonstrated that his word is suspect, having destroyed his own defense by lying on the stand about what he was doing during the show. The Traveler isn't just justified in wanting keep the two at arm's length, it's arguably necessary for their safety while they reevaluate who they are and reassess their threat level.
  • While the Traveler has befriended Childe and the Wanderer, this doesn't mean they fully trust the two of them either. With the Wanderer, even after agreeing to follow Nahida's lead with him, they worry about him being up to no good during the Inter-Darshan Championship. As for Childe, they've been both on and off the clock with him, beside him and against him, enough so that they have who he is as a person scoped out. Even then, they always keep his status as a Fatui Harbinger in the back of their mind, taking a moment to wonder if he's secretly in Fontaine for a mission when happily catching up with him.
  • The twins' first meeting with Traveler doesn't help their case either. What are the chances of two Fatui agents just so happening to be at the harbor the moment Traveler arrives there, and then immediately helping Traveler out of a sticky legal situation, earning their trust in the process? Remember, Childe appeared to the Traveler in a similar fashion, albeit more because he saw an opportunity than by any real design, and even though he was unknowingly dancing to Zhongli's tune at the time, it doesn't change how readily and easily he used the Traveler's wanted status to help drive a wedge between the Qixing and the Adepti. Add to this how Scaramouche first pretended to be an innocent wayfarer before Mona exposed him during the "Unreconciled Stars" event, and the eerie ease with which Dottore and the Sages hunted people down in Sumeru (albeit with the help of the Akasha), and it can easily be seen why the Traveler's paranoia is through the roof. As someone who has been sought out, and even hunted down by the Fatui several times, they can never chalk up any Fatui encounter as "just" coincidence.
• Wriothesley's Leitmotif in his initial teaser is noticeably different from the one used in his Demo, with the first coming off as more foreboding and cold and the latter being much more upbeat and heroic-sounding. The teaser dropped before Wriothesley is introduced to the game and hadn't met the Traveler yet, and it gives off a frigid and tense first impression like he does when he is first encountered in-game. The Demo is after the Traveler has gotten to know Wriothesley after the Archon Quest and is aware of how laid-back and kind he really is, and thus has a much more friendly-sounding theme than before.
• The Traveler's Elemental abilities always mirrored that of the Archon's of the region. The first one to break the trend is Furina, who does not have the enhanced version of their abilities, but rather Neuvillette does. It makes sense when it was revealed Focalors carries the divine power, not Furina. Since Focalors had the power that belonged to Neuvillette, it can be inferred that the power she had at the time the Traveler resonated with the Statue would be similar to Neuvillette's. As such, the pattern of the Traveler's skills still applies.
• Why did Furina beg for her life against Arlecchino, but choose to dip her hand in the Primordial Seawater? Well, for starters one was a situation where she was both completely off guard and in immediate danger while the other was simply about proving that she was actually human. The issue is, while Furina might be afraid of being killed, she's exponentially more afraid of what would happen to Fontaine's people if her secret were exposed. Being murdered may not necessarily prove she's human, but the Oratrice declaring her guilty of deceit would. As to why she took the risk with the Primordial Seawater... well, if it had been real and she ended up dissolving, she wouldn't need to worry about her secret getting out anymore, would she?
• Comparisons between Neuvillette, Focalors, and Furina and the Holy Trinity of the Abrahamic Faith.
  • Furina is like the Son of the Holy Trinity, A god who became human in order to suffer for the sake of forgiving the sins of the people they loved. They remained determined to see their sacrifice through, no matter how much they suffered and wished for someone else to take the burden instead.
  • Focalors is the Holy Spirit, a mystical divine power from whom the Son was able to do his miracles through borrowing their power after the Son had given up their divine powers.
  • Neuvillette is the Father. He may be kind and loving to his children but his sense of justice demands he punish all crimes to the full extent of the law. But thanks to the Son and The Holy Spirit, he declares all sins to be forgiven.
• Furina choosing not to reveal her secret to the Traveler when they were alone might've been the right choice. While the Traveler might be outside Tevyat's laws and thus not affected by it, Paimon certainly is and Paimon hearing Furina's secret would have triggered the prophecy. Furthermore, even if Paimon hadn't been present, the Traveler still intended to reveal the secret to Neuvillette and the others. Not only would this also trigger the prophecy, it would have simply been betraying Furina's trust in a different way.
• When Skirk seems impressed with Neuvillette and the Traveler's ability to defeat the All-Devouring Narwhal without "power from beyond this world", it's not just because power from the Abyss seems inherently stronger. What Teyvat refers to as the Abyss is strongly implied to be the Sea of Quanta from Honkai Impact 3rd, reinforced by the use of dark spherical cores in the designs of the All-Devouring Narwhal and the entity within it, a design element shared by Quantum enemies from the latter series. Notably, not only is the Quantum alignment weak only to itself, but Quantum enemies are also notorious for having damage reduction that can only be removed by inflicting Quantum Collapse, which only Quantum-aligned characters have as a natural part of their kits and must otherwise be inflicted under certain conditions. Skirk is essentially complimenting them on fighting a Quantum enemy the hard way, without resorting to Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors. It also lends extra credence to the idea that Focalors might have just needed Childe to buy time; as the only person available with the power of the Abyss, he's not only the best choice to fight the Narwhal, he's really the only person who stood a chance at meaningfully hurting it at the time.
• The development of the Nations in Teyvat seen thus far are proportional to the amount of influence that the gods or humanity have over it, with Mondstadt, Liyue and Inazuma maintaining their traditions and cultures throughout time as their Archons had the highest direct involvement over their subjects. Meanwhile, Sumeru and Fontaine are more technologically advanced because the humans had to innovate and improve because of the relative absence of their Archon's involvement in their lives. Especially in Fontaine's case, given that they actually have been under the rule of the equivalent of a Khaenri'ahn the whole time, made a lot more technological improvements than the other 4 combined.
• Morax regularly played host to his fellow members of the Seven, back in the days where they still socialized and traded ideas. Accordingly, his reign as Archon incorporates aspects of his peers' ideals.
  • Freedom: Morax's primary restriction on his people's behavior is that they uphold their contracts, or suffer the consequences. Otherwise he's content to let his subjects do as they please, though he does sometimes influences their choices by creating trends and giving recommendations during the Rite of Parting.
  • Eternity: At 6,000 years and counting, Morax is the oldest known entity still walking Teyvat, and up until his Rite of Parting had a continuous, unbroken rule as Geo Archon. It is rather telling that Zhongli's present-day views are quite similar to the beliefs of Transience held by Makoto, the first Electro Archon, who understood humanity better than her twin sister and successor, Ei, and was able to reconcile the differences between their ideal of eternity and the transient nature of humanity for her own, similarly harmonious rule.
  • Wisdom: With his long life comes a wealth of learning and experiences to draw upon. Though not exactly infallible, a near-perfect memory combined with millennia of experience wrought through trial-and-error makes for a convincing amount of expertise in various fields by the present day.
  • Justice: His ideal itself serves as a code of law. He expects people to uphold their ends of the agreement. While not necessarily "just" on an individual case-by-case basis, as it's possible to get suckered into bad deals if one isn't diligent enough, which is why people are expected to quickly learn to read the fine print in Liyue's cutthroat marketplace. Notably, while other laws penned by Morax are patched or changed, the one rock-solid rule in Liyue's code is that those who dare break their contracts will "suffer the wrath of the rock." Zhongli himself states that fairness is the heart of making a contract and expresses frustration that people make unfair contracts in defiance of this.
  • War: Though he is the God of Contracts, Morax is a warrior god with countless battles to his name. The Guyun Stone Forest is not a natural rock formation, rather it is the remnants of giant spears of stone he once used to pin down one of his ancient enemies. In addition, many of Liyue's 5-star weapons that are available through the gacha are divine artifacts that he used or even made personally in order to do battle his enemies.
• It's only fitting that Neuvillette makes some kind of appearance for 2024's Lantern Rite. It's the year of the dragon after all.
• So far, the governments of each nation make sense with their Archon's ideal.
  • Mondstadt has no government to speak of, and is only broadly presided over by the Knights of Favonius, reflecting Barbatos's ideal of Freedom.
  • The Qixing of Liyue are highly structured and very orderly with strict rules that the Qixing and associates must follow like a contract, reflecting Morax's ideal. Also the Qixing are stated to be made up of wealthy merchants, which reflect's Morax's status as the God of Commerce and inventor of Mora.
  • Inazuma being lead by the Raiden Shogun already reflects Eternity, but the connection to Eternity is strengthened by the fact that the Tri-Commission is lead by wealthy clans that each try to ensure they keep their power for eternity.
  • Ever since Rukkadevata's death and Kusanali/Nahida's imprisonment, Sumeru has been lead by the Akademiya, which as its name implies is lead by sages who have spent their whole lives acquiring Wisdom and knowledge.
  • Fontaine is ruled directly over by the courts and Chief Justice Neuvillette, who makes laws and judges criminals, reflecting the Hydro Archon's ideal of Justice.
  • As far as we know, Natlan is more of a group of tribes rather than one cohesive nation, which would allow War to easily flourish.
  • The Fatui also reflect the fact that the Tsaritsa's ideal is unknown, being a secretive organization thats motives are unknown to the rest of Teyvat.
• In hindsight, the Fontanians being transformed Oceanids justifies why anyone would inhabit a massive plateau covered on all sides by unclimbable waterfalls.
• Anton and Malinovskyi are both well meaning Fatui who simply want to those under them to be content, and both clash with an aggressive fellow Fatui Skirmisher. Fitting, both of them are Skirmishers with a supportive role, Anton being an Anemoboxer and Malinovskyi being a Hydrogunner, while the Skirmisher they clash with is an Electrohammer, which have a more offensive role.
• Despite no longer being an Archon, Furina is still dedicated to Justice. As as director she has to do justice to the stories being adapted and to the cast and crew involved in the film making process.
• Furina's best weapon IS her signature fancy one, but her next best free option is an old pipe (Fleuve Cendre Ferryman). Since she's not living a pampered luxurious life anymore, makes sense she'd use a cheap weapon too.
• The end of Chiori's story quest reveals her new logo that's similiar to the three petal flower that adorns her outfit but with the rightmost circle changed into the letter C. It's actually a stylized BC for Boutique Chioriya as most of the signs in Fontaine are in French and the noun before the adjective is correct French grammar.
• Why couldn't Greater Lord Rukkhadevata perfectly imitate Padisarahs? In evolution, two unrelated organisms can not evolve into the exact same species. Since Rukkhadevata's Padisarahs and the Goddess of Flowers' Padisarahs come from different gods, they are unrelated and thus can't be the exact same.

Fridge Horror

Fridge Horror:

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• The Guyun Stone Forest was created when Rex Lapis pinned one of his foes with spears of stone. One might notice that here and there, the rock formations form clusters of perfectly hexagonal pillars. Similar rock formations are found in huge numbers along Yaoguang Shoal and in the ruins of Mingyun Village, jutting out of more natural rock formations or themselves comprising entire cliffs. One has to wonder if this too was part of the same battle, or if it was part of something even worse...
• Inside the Pyro Regisvine's cave, there's a stove near the entrance. It might not seem much until you realize that the Regisvines are carnivorous plants. You have to wonder how many people took shelter in that cave only to get lured in by the Regisvine.
• Zhongli's story reveals that the Mora costs in gameplay for enhancements aren't just for show - they're used that way in-universe too, being magic catalysts used for further refinement. Suddenly the Golden House being shut down is a much worse problem; rather than just an issue of simply not losing any more coins, now we know that there's an in-universe Money Sink for which the money spent just flat-out disappears from existence and never returns, and with no new Mora to replace it, the economy of Teyvat is going to take a tremendous blow.
  
  And assuming that the Fatui can use the powers of Zhongli's gnosis, they will have the ability to generate unlimited amounts of Mora. While the issue of depreciation does not apply to Teyvat (all countries seem to use the same currency and all Mora that disappears is replaced with new Mora), the Fatui could use the gnosis's ability to make Mora to force other countries to concede to their demands or face economic ruin without a steady stream of Mora, or they could use the magical nature of Mora to increase their military might. Either way, with Zhongli's gnosis, the Fatui may have acquired an ability that could boost the effectiveness of their diplomatic ability to a frightening degree.
• On the night Kaeya confessed to Diluc that he was placed in Mondstat as a Khaenri'ahn agent, he was fully anticipating his brother's anger. When they fought, Diluc had outmatched him since at the time, he had both a vision and a claymore while Kaeya only had a sword. Meaning that Kaeya was practically asking Diluc to end his life for him.
• When you enter the heart cave in Dragonspine, the ground turns into a carpet of what's definitely blood with clusters of Scarlet Quartz littering the nearby area. Does that mean Scarlet Quartz deposits are Durin's blood clots?
  • Not to mention that you're basically walking on what used to be its insides. Those tall, curvy things near the heart cave you can climb up? That was its rib cage.
  • The Shadows Amidst Snowstorms introduced another horrifying aspect of Durin's blood in the form of the Fell Flower. A mutated Whopperflower that could somehow impersonate a human being. If Durin's corrupted blood could create such a terrifying entity, than who knows what else it could create.
• How does Vapourize cause so much damage? Putting the literal in-game mechanics to the side for a second, it's because Vapourize sears the enemy with boiling water and scalding steam. Basically death by third-degree burns.
• Now that the fall of Khaenri'ah was explicitly stated to have been 500 years ago, and that the gods had a hand in its destruction, anything related to the divine that happened 500 years ago should start making people nervous, as too many of them seem to have happened at that time for it to be a coincidence. To name a few things:
  • Durin and Dvalin's battle, which ended in the death of the former and the poisoning of the latter. Durin has strong ties to Khaenri'ah, and his attack on Mondstadt is implied to have been a result of Gold's tampering. The timing of this attack suggests two things: either Khaenri'ah struck first, provoking the wrath of the Gods, or the Gods attacked first, and Khaenri'ah managed to retaliate before going down.
  • Venti mentioned that he and the Tsaritsa had a falling out at that time, while Zhongli noted that the Cryo Archon hasn't been the same ever since. Consider for a moment that the Tsaritsa is taking the power of her fellow Archons, and seems to be aiming to challenge Celestia itself.
  • The lore entries for the Viridescent Venerer set speak of a "God of the Woods" who died in a disaster that befell an "ancient kingdom". The current Dendro Archon is stated to be the youngest at 500 years old, and new Archons are known to have been appointed upon the death of their predecessors, as was the case when Barbatos participated in the coup against Decarabian. Assuming that this God of the Woods was indeed the previous Dendro Archon, were they simply killed in action while participating in the assault, or were they actually murdered beforehand?
• The "Eye of the Storm" boss is an Anemo elemental that is known to be very violent when confronted. Their visual design resembles the Anemoculous, which is known to be associated with the Wind Archon and, like other Oculi, are presented to Statues of the Seven to appease them. At first it seems strange, since Venti isn't necessarily the violent type... but his predecessor, Decarabian, was, and was especially known for summoning storms to trap his subjects. It's possible that when Decarabian made his own Anemoculi, they were twisted by his desire to keep everyone terrified of his constant storms, even after he'd been dethroned and killed. It's also worth noting that one actually attacks Venti during Mondstadt's Archon Quest, with him commenting on how it's not exactly happy to see him.
• Yoimiya is visibly wearing a Sarashi around her chest. Based on its use in Japanese history, it's likely just her undergarment. However, she also has wrappings on her arm and legs. Given how her profession involves constructing fireworks and setting some off herself, it's possible that she managed to get injured by explosives and that those wrappings are bandages.
• Childe's Riptide explosions. He's basically destroying enemies inside out.
• During Sayu's Hangout Event, the Kairagi personally blackmails Ogawa to kill the Traveler or else Kotomi (a.k.a. Ogawa's daughter) will get killed off. In the endings where Sayu and the Traveler didn't confront the Kairagi for this, it could be very likely for the Kairagi to kill Kotomi off due to Ogawa's "failure" in killing the Traveler off.
• While most items obtained from Trounce Domains are rather innocuous and could have easily been dislodged during the fight, the Ashen Heart, specifically referred to as a heart in the original Chinese too, is much more disturbing. Its description dances around what it exactly is, but the shape and given that Signora's blood was replaced with liquid fire all but confirms its her actual heart. Just how did the Traveler obtain this?
• The implications behind Enjou. Anyone you meet could be a Lecter.
• The new boss incoming during 2.5. Symbol behind the back, extra arms holding a giant sword, and two "horns" rising from her crown. She sure looks an awful lot like a certain Herrscher from Honkai Impact 3rd...
• Klee and Kaeya were supposed to be part of the Chasm Exploration Team before Klee blew up Good Hunter. A throwaway line for a quick gag...until one realizes that if Klee hadn't done that, the two would probably have stuck with the Traveler when they jumped after the white stone and met Dainsleif again. Kaeya originally being sent to Mondstadt as a mole from Khaenri'ah before committing himself to Mondstadt, he would have had a lot of explaining to do when the Abyss Order started amping up the pool's purification...
• Should "A Company Vanishing Into The Deep" is started right after the "The Chasm Delvers" has been completed, the Fatui Ninth Company's chances of escaping The Chasm undetected will be very unlikely given that there are now patrols on key areas (both the entrance and the former area Jinwu once set up shop in before relocating deeper into the mines), this means that they are likely captured during their escape, especially since the entrance area is the only way out of The Chasm and given Liyue's current relationship with Snezhnaya and the Fatui...
• At the end of the "Valor's Afterglow" questline, Zhiqiong leaves the mine exploration group, and when the Traveler finds a camp that she left behind in the deepest regions of the Chasm, they find a letter saying that she was going deeper into the Chasm, and a crystal called the Frostglaze Crystal. The crystal's description says that it was created from the radiance of the blue crystal and the power of the Abyss. This leaves two horrifying possibilities to Zhiqiong's fate: either she was found by the Abyss Order, or she fell into the Abyss itself. Both most likely mean that we're never gonna see her again, as due to the fact that she doesn't have a Vision, as well as her total lack of self preservation, that she doesn't survive either fate.
• While picking a fight with Yelan may have accidentally gotten everyone trapped in a strange domain in the short term, the scary thing is that in the long term that might have saved the lives of Yanfei, Yelan, and Xiao. All three of them were searching the area for their own reasons, and there's no telling if or when they might each have discovered the domain, and given how it took everyone's combined efforts to comprehend and then escape that twisted space, if any one of them had discovered it independently then they would definitely have been trapped for good.
• How bad is the situation on Watastumi Island that they've had to resort to smuggling goods from other nations (with the The Crux's aid) just to get by? While Heizou assures the Traveler, Paimon, and Gorou that he won't inform his superiors about the smuggling operations, whose to say that the Tenryou Commission won't send someone else to investigate Watastumi Island and reveal the situation to their superiors? If that were to happen, then not only would the warmongers within the Tenryou Commission would have the excuse to restart the Civil War, it would also give them a reason to veto a bill that would make Watastumi Island exempt from paying taxes for general goods.
  
  Adding to this, The Crux would get caught in the crossfire too, with Beidou and her crew (which includes Kazuha) being arrested for being accomplices. Depending on how merciful the Qixing are, they could abandon the Crux or negotiate their freedom, but that could lead to souring relations between Liyue and Inazuma and potentially give the latter nation an excuse to enact war on Liyue.
• The 3.0 trailer reveals that Rukkhadevata, the previous Dendro Archon, still has followers, and they're actively suppressing Kusanali's worship, including her day of birth, because they're in such denial over the loss of their "true" Archon that they can't accept Kusanali. Venti, and in the 3.4 update, Alhaitham, said in the beginning that an Archon's relative power corresponds to their ability to rule their lands effectively. Sumeru's people are destroying their own Archon's ability to rule, and if Nilou's comments about only having a few festivals left are anything to go by, Kusanali's own influence is nearly gone, which they really can't afford right now given that Il Dottore is up to something. Following up on this, while it initially seemed like Kusanali's nickname of "Lesser Lord" was a "Blind Idiot" Translation ^note A more accurate translation of the original Chinese would make it "Little Lord", the general disrespect and apathy many people have towards her makes them calling her lesser make a lot more sense.
• Sumeru's people stop dreaming as they mature and reach adulthood. Akademiya prides itself on this, seeing it as a sign that logic, reason, and rationality have prevailed over childish nonsense. However, for all their posturing, the only entities capable of fighting off the Withering effectively are people with Visions, whose entire existence predicates on dreams big and small, and the Aranara, the little forest people who have power of dreams. All the geniuses in the Akademiya are doing is sabotaging their country's ability to help itself. To hammer home the point further, Akademiya has no idea what causes the Withering and is desperate to learn its origins. The Aranara? They do. They always have, and they have ways to help otherwise lethally affected people recover. The solution is practically hidden in plain sight, and yet Akademiya will never learn of it.
• The Akademiya are lucky that Nahida shares her predecessor's love for her people and desire to let them keep their free will. Otherwise, their treatment of her and her worshippers could one day have her snap and forcibly take control of their bodies the moment they put on an Akasha Terminal and ruin their lives. Or even worse, jump off from the highest point in Sumeru City and give them back control in the middle of their fall…
• The erasure of Greater Lord Rukkhadevta's existence in Irmisul led to all records of her existence being erased from Teyvat as well, as detailed in this Reddit post. This has great implications on the truth of the history of Teyvat. If even gods can forget, how much of what the Traveler (and the player knows) has been distorted? Is there nothing that they rely on? Zhongli once said in his 1st story quest that he brought the Traveler along to a witness to the history of Teyvat. How much will they have to shoulder alone?
  
  With the change in history, Kusanali is now technically one of the original seven Archons and comrades with Venti and Zhongli. Except instead of finding out their comrade Rukkhadevata has died, their memories change so that they learn their comrade Kusanali has completely forgotten about them and changed into a child, ultimately becoming a different person from who they remember. And in Zhongli's case, he lost another friend who shared memories with him.
• We already know that Celestia is hiding something, since the first clue was how they ordered Orabashi to die after he learned about the Sovereigns, but combine that with the fact that knowledge from the Abyss is poisonous to Irminsul, as proven first by several Withering Zones being inhabited by the Abyss Order, it just begs the question of what are they hiding, since Nahida described Forbidden Knowledge as a "truth" that no-one can comprehend.
• Remember how part of the God Creation Plan was to pump Scaramouche full of Divine Knowledge via Knowledge Capsules? And remember how it actually turned out to be Forbidden Knowledge? Think for a moment might have happened had the Sages gotten that far, and be glad that they didn't. An even more powerful god is one thing, but a god gone mad with Forbidden Knowledge, and potentially hooked directly into the Akasha...
• In Lisa's character quest, an Abyss Mage steals a book called 'Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies', claiming that they seek to decode it. While it was Played for Laughs at first, it stops being funny after the Sumeru Interlude Archon Quest, as Nahida revealed that she made a fairytale based off of Scaramouche's memories, and fairytales are safe from information being erased from Irminsul, meaning it's entirely possible that the story may in fact be true. And not just 'Pale Princess and the Six Pygmies', but every other fairytale as well. It just further begs the question of how much information has been erased from Irminsul.
• During the first phase of Scaramouche's boss fight, the players can suppress him by using an Electro matrix and outright paralyze him for a while by using the second Electro matrix shortly after, with one of his voicelines upon being paralyzed being "My body...it's...ugh...". Interlude Chapter Act III reveals that the deification process involved permanently binding Scaramouche's body to his Humongous Mecha, rendering him unable to move independently of it. The use of Electro matrices doesn't overload the mech with energy so much as it electrocutes Scaramouche himself. Said reveal also implies that Scaramouche didn't just see Nahida take away the Gnosis, he actually felt his heart being pulled out.
• After abandoning her prototype and before she finalized the Raiden Shogun, Ei created several more failed experiments that she would discard. There is no mention of any other puppets being spared and allowed their own lives, so presumably Ei destroyed them all when they proved flawed. This raises the question of whether Scaramouche was unique in his self-awareness, or whether Ei essentially killed numerous sentient beings that considered her their mother?
• One of the Hard difficulty bounties in Inazuma is a client (presumably from the Shogunate) whose friend from the Tenryou Commission saw a Ruin Grader that is fairly close to Chinju Forest and placed a bounty on it. The reason? To be used as weapons of war against the Watatsumi Army. What veers to this is that, even with the truce between the Shogunate and Watatsumi, this person will still want to use the Ruin Grader to destroy the latter with the implication that, yes, there are still war-mongerers among the Shogunate ranks. What makes it worse is that the Yashiro Commission may not even be aware of such bounties being even posted on their board. One hopes that the Traveler may destroy the automaton so thoroughly that it can no longer be used as a weapon.
• Wanderer's character story reveals that in the century he spent with the Fatui prior to becoming a Harbinger, he was primarily tasked with exploring the Abyss. Tartaglia's history points out how time flows differently there, having spent three months in the Abyss only to learn it had only been three days for his family. As such, it's hard to even guess how long Scaramouche actually spent there. It is also unclear whether or not he was affected by such prolonged exposure to the Abyss' corruption — something Dottore had previously attempted by sending him into the Mikage Furnace.
• Chlothar Alberich tried to swallow his pride for the sake of his son and went to a Statue of the Seven of the Dendro Archon to beg for help. Yet there's no response, and that batch of medicine has no effect. When he's about to try again, he and the Traveler are distracted by a hilichurl wandering into a cave, and he ends up praying instead to the "Sinner" inside, which draws him into its thrall, this finally awaken Caribert from a coma, but this later caused him to undergo some unknown transformation out of despair for his condition, which cements Chlothar's enmity with the Seven and founded the Abyss Order. One might be inclined to believe that this is a natural consequence of Nahida treating him unusually coldly... until it is learned that this happened in the past, sometime between the Cataclysm and the present. How exactly was Nahida spending that 500 year span of time? By being locked up in the Sanctuary of Surasthana. It's entirely possible that she either didn't hear him, or simply couldn't help him, as while imprisoned she has only shown to be able to exert her powers by possessing other people, such as through the Akasha Terminals, which Chlothar obviously wasn't wearing. In other words, the terrible decision by the Sages to lock her up could also be at fault for enabling the creation of the Abyss Order.
  
  The horrible truth behind the hilichurl Caribert's identity: once roused from his fugue state, with human lucidity restored thanks to Chlothar's Abyss energy-infused medicine, Caribert reveals himself to have the mind of a terrified young boy who wants to know if he died alongside his mother because the last thing he remembers from before his Forced Transformation is the traumatic fall of Kaenri'ah during the Cataclysm. He reacts with horror at his new form until Chlothar can calm him by reassuring him he'll always be by his side. However, Caribert's natural childlike curiosity gets the better of him despite Chlothar's stern warning to never remove his mask for any reason... he catches a glimpse of his transformed face in a nearby hand mirror and rushes off, having suffered an Identity Breakdown that pushes him past the Despair Event Horizon.
  
  Now think for a moment about how many hundreds or thousands of hilichurls the Traveler has slain in their journey across the four nations of Teyvat they've explored so far. It's been known since Chapter II Act IV that hilichurls are actually the citizens of Khaenri'ah transformed by Celestia as punishment for their rebellion five hundred years prior. But one can be forgiven for assuming that only adults were transformed and that the children were spared somehow. Unfortunately, as of Chapter III Act VI we now know this to no longer be the case. Celestia's curse upon Khaenri'ah turned an untold number of innocent children into unwitting Child Soldiers and instilled them with bestial urges to battle and kill the contemporary human inhabitants of the seven nations. How many Khaenri'ahn children-turned-hilichurls has the Traveler unknowingly been forced to kill in self-defense? On a metafictional level, how many have the player hunted for arrowheads and masks? Or simply for amusement?
  
  This all casts a new pall over Alice's experiments performed on hilichurls during her time in Mondstadt. Even though the hilichurls are a Formerly Sapient Species and unable to comprehend the horrors they're going through, she still used bombs to launch hilichurls from Windrise to Springvale (one of them hitting a hunter's dwelling). She's also strapped a hilichurl to a Ruin Guard in hopes of making the Khaenri'ahn war mecha controllable, but the experiment failed when the Ruin Guard exploded taking its unwilling passenger with it. Lastly, Alice mentioned in the Teyvat Travel Guide that she considered taking the hilichurl population of Dadaupa Gorge and confining them to a "huge spinning ball-shaped cell" which would power Mondstadt's mills for up to five years. Furthermore, she proposed taking the older and weaker hilichurls, grinding them up into food, and serving them to the stronger ones to create a Perpetual Motion Machine. By Alice's admission, it was enough to leave Lisa in Stunned Silence. If that isn't horrifying enough, consider that Alice in her capacity as the practical Archmage of the Hexenzirkel is one of only a handful of people in Teyvat with the ability to access Irminsul and is therefore capable of discovering the true origin of the hilichurls. Therefore it is entirely possible she knew of the human origins of the hilichurls, and just didn't care that the semi-sapients she was performing Animal Testing on were barely a step removed from humanity. Of course, this all tracks with her established record of Comedic Sociopathy, but it also reveals that she's come dangerously close to plunging straight through a Moral Event Horizon for many players (or has done so already) and not just simply dallied around with in-universe Gray-and-Black Morality.
• In addition, Chapter III Act VI added another layer of horror to what could be seen as another quirk of Teyvat: those hilichurls you see everywhere? Those were former immigrants of Khaenri'ah who were transformed into monsters for daring to abandon their designated nations to live there. It's not hard to imagine that those same hilichurls tried to return to their past homelands out of a sense of survival and now, each time that they clash with the respective guards of each nation, those fighters end up killing those who were once their fellow citizens without their knowledge. The kicker? Celestia views these immigrants as the lesser sinners whose crimes are not as severe as the pure-blooded Khaenri'ahns who suffered much worse.
• Ever wonder why the Withering zones can persist even after Marana is dealt with, the Forbidden Knowledge gone? Well, wonder no more. In Nahida's second story quest we learn of entire species of Dendro beings, corrupted with Forrbidden Knowledge earned by their homeland dragon. When they succumb to it, they turn into Withering tumors. These underground zones that require extra puzzle to find? Likely an elemental being that got trapped and abandoned all hope.
• Furina spent 500 years keeping the secret that she wasn't a god from the people of Fontaine to prevent the prophecy from coming to fruition. But do you suppose the Traveler and their allies (or Arlecchino) were the first ones to come so close to finding out? There's no shortage of brilliant minds in Fontaine, and at least a few may have had their suspicions about their deity before the events of the Archon Quest. If someone had indeed come close to revealing her as a fraud, do you suppose Furina had to silence them to stop the secret from getting out? If so, she likely would've had to destroy some very good people's lives for the sake of Fontaine, and then lie to her subordinates on why it had to be done (as she'd be unable to get rid of nosy people herself). And even if she may not have had to have anyone killed for getting too close, who's to say she didn't have to destroy their reputations so no one would believe them?
  • In the early days of Furina's reign, her political standing was likely unstable due to the remanents of the old regime trying to reclaim their former authority. Look at Neuvillette's story quest, which showed that there were factions who tried to undermine/overthrow him. The scene in Furina's inner mind in the Archon Quest also showed that when she first ascended, many people doubted her, causing her to turn up the ante on her acting. All the Oceanids permanently exiled themselves, and Rhodeia is strangely insistent of the idea that assassins would be sent after her. Even if Furina may not have intended to actually go through with any threat, it is likely that she had to do something to solidify her authority as a god not to be questioned, so that those that harbour doubts about her actual ability would not pursue the matter. However, seeing how the present populace sees her as a mascot, she may have not needed to kill, but instead just make it extremely troublesome for any questioning party to retaliate (see how she tried to arrest the Traveler and Paimon for breaking the "no flying objects within the first three days of the month" law after the Traveler agreed to have a physical duel with her). With her authority as Hydro Archon and Neuvillette as Iudex, it is probable that she could get him to pass any law that would reasonably prevent anyone from getting too close or disrespecting her (see the law about not naming pets after her).
• Focalors created the Oratrice to collect Fontaine's people's faith and belief in justice during a trial and transform it into Indemnitium to eventually use to execute herself. It's awfully convenient then that Fontaine, as the nation of Justice, also suffers from a rather horrific crime rate despite the significant amount of effort spent on its police force and prison infrastructure, which gives her more "fish in the sea", so to speak. Whether this is by coincidence or by design, if Fontaine wasn't so dystopian in certain aspects then she might not have been able to amass the needed Indemnitium in time.
• When Neuvillette reclaimed his full authority, he also regained memories from the previous incarnations of the Hydro Sovereign, such as those pertaining to the War of Vengeance. This might explain why Zhongli attempted to solve Azhdaha's memory issues by sharing his power; since Zhongli possesses the authority of Geo stolen from the Sovereigns, he may have thought that he could fill in the gaps himself and bring Azhdaha closer to this "completed" state. Thanks to Focalors, we also know now why it didn't work, as not even the Archons can just give that power away. The only way to return a Sovereign's authority to them is to eliminate the position of Archon altogether, meaning that so long as Zhongli lives, Azhdaha will never be whole.
• During the potions event, Diona asks for a potion that would result in alcoholic drinks not causing drunkenness. Given that the sensations caused by ingesting alcohol are due to it being a literal toxin, and the reasons that people enjoy drinking in the first place, Diona is asking, in a horribly cheerful manner, for a beverage that would absolutely kill people through alcohol poisoning as they consume more without experiencing the usual side effects.
• While they currently serve under Arlecchino, the fact the Fatui Operatives are adult women means they most likely grew up under Crucabena. The phrase "after countless rounds have winnowed the field" in their Archive description suddenly takes on a much darker meaning, and considering how many can be encountered, that's a lot of dead children.