[3.1] Lore Highlights - The Lore of Sumeru's Desert and Weinlesefest

I really love exploring these massive and incredibly detailed areas but WOW is collecting all the lore in them an absolute nightmare. The shortened patches are not helping either. Still, loved the desert. Tons of fun!
Quick note - The only thing I didn't mention in the video was the crumb we learned about Capitano and Varka. It's because it was basically, "Capitano went to Natlan" and that was it, so I forgot all about it until after the video rendered.
(apologies a couple of the transitions seem to have not rendered properly and I missed them during proofing)
*TIMESTAMPS*
1:10 Sandstorms and the Wall of Samiel
3:21 The Mad Scholars
5:05 Knowledge Capsules
6:29 Rukkhadevata & Kusanali
13:28 Eleazar
16:55 The Golden Slumber (The Scarlet King)
20:03 Rapidfire Round (Lorebits)
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• [2.0] A (very) Specula...
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[@Ashikai]

**NOTES** - Ranakel pointed out that the whole "riftwolves cause sandstorms" should have been obvious (in hindsight) because the Golden Wolflord literally makes a giant sandy tornado as his attack.

[@vakeervondelecruax8526]

Who be the Three Magi by the way?

[@darkomiku8902]

Maybe you forgot to pin this? I don't see it pinged or I didn't refresh?

[@darkomiku8902]

@@vakeervondelecruax8526 I also wonder about this.

[@Ranakel]

Spinny void wolfy go brrrrr

[@gatra1320]

@@vakeervondelecruax8526 might be King Huyamun , Turan Khagan and Garshapd?

[@Windfiinder]

my head canon is when the akademiya asked kusanali for divine wisdom she told them to take go dook dook and that was the start of their villian origin story

[@Lialvas]

idk why they got so mad, she didnt even say shit, she just said dook dook.

[@wordsmith6154]

Hearing the voice of Kaeya's father and hearing his tone really put some things in perspective for me and has even generated my own theory. I don't think Kaeya's father left him in Mondstadt for any kind of revenge or to bring back their fallen land but Kaeya might be the last person of Khaenri'ah left alive. My theory is that Kaeya's father might've been sick or he had the Hilichurl curse and was slowly turning into that. No matter what the case is, I think there was something going on and Kaeya's father knew he couldn't take care of him. He left Kaeya there because he knew he'd be well taken care of and there would be the place where he could start his own family one day and carry on the blood of Khaenri'ah. That's just my theory though.

[@charisleath]

I've had a similar theory for a while now. Kaeya says he was sent as a spy and as Khaenr'iah's last hope. But it doesn't seem like Khaenr'iah is in contact with him. It seems like he was dropped off and left to his own devices. So I've wondered for a while if the "last hope" isn't about bringing back Khaenr'iah but instead is something more philosophical, like how Dainsleif said to Halfdan that Khaenr'iah hadn't fallen because he's still alive. Kaeya might be the only one with any hope of living a better, non-cursed life, so they might have sent him off to have what they can't. We don't know how many people survived the Cataclysm and if those born afterwards to the remaining survivors are also cursed. And, if they are unfortunately cursed, we don't know if it works the same for them. Of course, I'm assuming there were survivors of the Cataclysm, even if they're just people who weren't in the country at the time and found themselves displaced, since it would be hard for Kaeya or Pierro to exist otherwise. On the spy note, perhaps that's just what he was told so it didn't seem weird that he was being sent away to a different country. Or perhaps to spare him the pain of the real reason. Again, we don't really know.

[@j.3530]

I find the differences in tone of Kaeya's father quite interesting since I play using the Chinese voiceovers. In Chinese, Kaeya's father does not say "forgive me", he says "do not blame me" ("不要怪我") with what I feel is a less remorseful tone and more of someone coldly determined to achieve something. But yes, I do wonder what exactly Kaeya's father had in mind for him and simply having Kaeya live on seems possible to me too.

[@SilverDragon67]

I don't put too much thought in the voice of Kaeya's "father" in this event, since, at least that is what I heard, the voice was the same for Diluc and Rosaria. So, why would Kaeya's father do that? Imo not the voice counts, but the content. It seems, Mihoyo wants to make a few things clear, befor they go on with the lore. Maybe because through fanfiction, for example, the "Kaeya is a poor and abandoned prince of that godless land-theory" startet to overshadow the actual lore, so it has to be debunked :) And this startet with the letters and went on with Adelinde's Dinner. Btw. another theory a friend of mine told me, might be, that not only Guoba and Kusanali are gods who overdid it with their powers, but Paimon as well. Thats why she knows a lot, but at the same time, doesn't ;)

[@Xanxanaxa]

That's litterly what i saied since i foud out about his lore

[@Xanxanaxa]

@@charisleath dainslef saied that the only idantaty that mattered was being from khaenri'ah and you are cursed So what if kaeyas father not only left him for the prevous named reson but also for kaeya to take on a new idantaty aas being of mondstadt What if theoraticly you can escape or delay the curse by deying to be from khaenri'ah

[@nothanks2417]

the thought of candace, dehya and alhaithem all being related is so funny to me like the 3.1 archon quest was just a family reunion

[@annatal9092]

Aaaaand Dehya nave a older sister! You can find her in the docks of Port-Ormos.

[@cainiaowu]

Three magi my friend, three magi.

[@wolfkitty42]

@@annatal9092 Wait, really?

[@lumine2626]

@@annatal9092 wait what??????

[@annatal9092]

@@lumine2626 yeah, it's npc.

[@totallynotfangirl8102]

Im so curious about Cyno. His possession powers mirror the anemo and geo eremites, but he works for the academia, but he said he was originally from the desert, but his anubis helmet thingy is just like the priest during the cutscene. God he's almost as mysterious as Dainsleif

[@apolkiss6117]

I feel like the sages goal became different throughout the years and they’ve become greedy for knowledge that they dont even want to share that with kusanali. Then dotorre came and offered them something in exchange for creating a scaramouche gundam XD

[@colleennewholy9026]

I've seen what his expected form is going to look like, and he resemble the Baal Gundam (I think it's a Gundam, it could just be a mobile suit) from IBO, which... Has purple-ish coloring Is slim in body build And has some interesting abilities :D IBO also has Ars Goetia named machines, such as the popular Gundam Barbatos

[@Moon1tan]

At the end of the archon quest they did bring up the sages' arrogance for wanting to construct a God rather than help their current archon grow to continue rukkadevata's legacy So it is possible that their greed and arrogance caused them to shift their goal from trying to bring back rukkadevata or to help kusanali to wanting to control the flow of knowledge via controlling a God of their own creation

[@keku52]

Cannot wait for people to learn about the twist on Rukkhadevata Kusanali thing. For those who cant wait for the 3.2 archon quest, you can read more Rukkhadevata is long gone, dead. Kusanali is nothing more than the Akasha made by Rukkhadevata. Kusanali took her form when Rukkhadevata died hence why she feels insecurity that she is lacking- LESSER than Rukkhadevata. I'm glad hoyo did this because it makes no sense to portray as some insecure child who always think it will never be as good as its parent only to slap us with some half-baked "haha durrrrr she was actually Rukkhadevata all along".

[@LucDeTruc]

@@Moon1tan Most importantly they want to make a god that they (think) they can control and tell what to do

[@beashemmad.sayson545]

@@Moon1tan they love the idea of the god of wisdom, not the god itself

[@serelylyhikari9771]

I love Venti. I really do. But gosh darn it, WHEN ARE YOU EVER GOING TO APPEAR AND NOT MAKE YOURSELF MORE SUSPICIOUS?! (Did you notice that when we go visit him at Starsnatch Cliff, he is looking over to the Nameless Island?) Anyways, nice video!

[@alshu2887]

Thissss

[@sumerurose9226]

What do you mean?

[@JMBE21]

For 14:00, I just got an achievement today after entering a cave under/near Dar al-Shifa. The achievement is called ''Escape from the hospital'' and it's description says ''There was one survivor who got away.'' The cave has etchings made by that ''patient'' from Dottore's hospital a looong time ago. The cave talks about two other patients dying from eleazar, among some others, and the one that made the etchings says they don't want to die so soon. The interesting part is that the cave has two dead (or rather... dying?) hillichurls in it. I mean it also has a few hillichurl camps with living ones that attack you and guard chests, and disappear after you defeat them, but there's two already on the floor right there. Although their bodies make it seem like they are still breathing, but they don't attack you, nor can you attack them nor interact with them in any way.

[@oddpotato4038]

The dead hillichurls are kinda mysterious tbh. At first, I just thought that they were hunted down by the scorpions that are near them just like the hilichurl in a camo that was attacked by 3 tigers. But as I explored the cave, there's signs that the cave was also a part of the laboratory (one of the letters saying he had enough of the experiments). That made me question if these dead hillichurls are part also of Dottore's experiments.

[@PacWest6]

TRUE. Also I found it interesting how it gives you animations for when you enter and exit the hole the patient used to escape. Like, how important does something like that have to be to have animated cutscenes? Also good observations about the churls I never noticed that when I went through.

[@geographytrueskills3333]

Now this is some serious shit

[@Sam.jr0]

I think Dottore is the survivor of elezar and he is trying to save people by doing experiments with god juice. And the hillichurls kinda looks like sleeping not dead.

[@advanceringnewholder]

it's weird seeing the name of someone you know in a game you play as a patient of incurable dissease

[@apoorvjoshi2383]

It makes sense that the statues are made for original archons only, since barbatos and morax are the original anyway, but in case of raiden shogun, the statue looks a lot gentler..more like a shrine maiden or a religious/spiritual being and we know that Ei has never been that. She was always a warrior and soldier. If anything her statue should be more grand, like a general geared up for battle(just like how morax's statue his him sitting on a throne like a king). That statue probably belonged to Makoto, who we know was a wise and gentle ruler.

[@CupcakeKitty]

Problem with that is that Ei'd always been her sister's muscle. The people were not privy to there being 2 so the "general" Ei in their eyes was always the same person as their beloved Makota. From what I gathered from the Inazuma questlines is that Yae is LITERALLY the only person who actually knew there were 2 girls that shared responsibilities over Inazuma while only 1 was known to the public. Inazuma never even got to grieve for Makota... they didn't even know their archon had died. Sad.

[@sprixelnitrox]

Remember that the Aranara said "Death is just a loss of memories". So if Nahida is Rukkhadevata, then Rukkhadevata's death is basically her becoming Nahida.

[@vans2548]

The Adventurers' Guild works hard, but Ashikai works harder. How you manage to juggle everything in your work and life, AND still find time to take a videogame this incredibly seriously every patch, I'll never know. o7 Ash!

[@LuketheDuke424]

I think it's also so very important to consider the reliability of our narrators. In-game, these characters have their own beliefs and intentions, pure or not, and not everything we hear from characters is necessarily true. I think a lot of this story will culminate in the hubris of the Mages and Sumeru overall, with their dogmatic beliefs being nothing more than pride. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one, even if the in-game characters don't believe/understand it. Just as Guoba is still Marchosius, I have no doubt that Nahida is both the Lesser and Greater Lord. Additionally, there are many nebulous conclusions to be drawn from the whole "making a God" thing. I think that the characters are tapping into something they truly don't understand, so their process very much might be full of things they think are necessary for a God but are ultimately meaningless folly.

[@ignemuton5500]

very important comment, sometimes the story really is simpler than we think it is. i still think venti is the sussiest character in this game though

[@OPardalzin]

Yeah Genshin is FULL of unreliable narrators, they give us information together with their own views and principles and things we think are true at the moment might be unmasked as lies, only a small fragment or just distorded. Like the so called "Divine Knowledge Capsules" might not even have actual divine knowledge, the scholars just assume so because they can't understand it. Not only that but they have the potential to be VERY dangerous as we see with all the all the crazy people who interacted with them. In their arrogance, the Sages think that pushing them down Scaras throat is gonna make him wiser but if anything, they are causing themselves to lose control and it might just make Scara go berzerk like the Ayn Al-Ahmar boss. Not only that but they are probably planing on doing to Scaramouche, the same they have done with Nahida. Keeping their new "God of Wisdom" locked away for them to use to their hearts contempt, and it's probably going to backfire on them

[@petiteange08]

Agreed, the story is not necessarily that complicated.

[@fluidiccolours8091]

You know Luke, this is the most sensible and rational KZbin comment I've seen in a while. I completely agree with you that the story is quite simple and straightforward and what makes it complicated is the lack of crucial information and personal biases by the in-game NPCs and PCs.

[@dragonanonymous]

Yes, and I have def realized that Venti is the one who tells the Genisis story, and he said he met the Traveler before, and he might think the twin is evil because he's a storyteller (a bard is a musician and tells stories through their music) or doesn't have the full view! This similar opinion is vital to most of my theories, and it feels like Venti isn't telling us the full story, like what any good storyteller would do, which is infuriating and cool at the same time.

[@borbborbb]

Something that surprised me about Scara's daydream was that when i first saw it, i immediately thought of Frankenstein, that might just be me but i feel like its important to point out; 1. Both were "born" from their creators guilt over the loss of someone close to them (Victor being his mother, Ei being Makoto) 2. [First Betrayal] Both creators abandoning their creations whether it be intentional or perceived (Victor considering the Creature hideous upon recieving life and running away. Ei deeming him too gentle to hold the gnosis upon his awakening wherein he cried, and sealing his powers and letting him take control of his life, which Scara perceives as abandonment.) 3. [Second Betrayal] After their intial abandonment, they found a group that they would become friends with only to be chased out due to being seen as an abomination. (The Creature meeting the Blindman and his family and becoming friends with the man until his children found the creature and chased him out. The event with Katsuragi and Nagamasa that led to Katsuragi's death, and in Scara's daydream he says 'consumed by fear, he saw me as an abomination.) 4. [Third Betrayal] Both found a child and helped them in some way ((This ones the thinnest but) The creature leaving for Geneva after the family ran him out, rescuing a child out of a river and the father shooting him believing that the Creature had attacked the child. The child Scara was living with who he considered 'exactly like me. a hope for the future, a fledgling just out of the nest' in his daydream who died before him which he considered a broken promise. ) 5. Their betrayals, both lose all faith in humanity and believe that they cannot be trusted. (Creature "There was none among the myriads of men who existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.". Scaramouche "Humans... They can't be trusted. And the gods fill me with pure loathing. So I said good riddance! I denounce the world and laugh in its face. My chest will never again be defiled by worldly filth.") The Creatures betrayals led him down the path of confronting Victor and demanding a Mate since a creature like him had the right to happiness, and Scaramouche's led him down the path of becoming a false god with power from a 'supreme gnosis', which one could argue is also a parallel, since -as a puppet created to hold a gnosis, albeit a prototype- doesn't he too have a right to power? I'm not in any genshin theory discords nor do i post on reddit so I didn't really know a better place to post this 😅but I hadn't seen anyone else seeing parallels so I thought i'd share.

[@Ashikai]

I actually made a whole video on that lol Link in the description

[@xXzman9000Xx]

really starting to wonder if the celestial nails are element themed, and if there are 7 of them. dragon spine = cryo nail that causes a swirling blizzard that stops you from climbing the mountain chasm = geo nail which causes swirling/stretched rock formations sumeru desert nail = appears to be a swirling sandstorm, but sandstorms are caused by the wind, so anemo nail. also interesting is the surprising number of anemo related puzzles and things in the desert, in contrast to there being literally 0 in the jungle area.

[@thegamingenderman]

Supposedly there was a nail that fell on Tsurumi Island, but there isn’t one that can be physically seen in Inazuma. There might not be seven, or one nation has two of them.

[@023Whiplash]

@@thegamingenderman Tsurumi used to be in Inazuma before it fell in the abyss

[@Eurasian_]

@@023Whiplash it... never fell into the abyss? It was only shrouded in fog? Fog caused by that very (presumed) celestial nail?

[@xXzman9000Xx]

@@thegamingenderman i know that's the theory, but the evidence is indirect at best. and the theory only came around because the effects of the leylines in the area and the fog, and that celestia was at one point overhead. but the fog was cleared without ever interacting with a nail, meaning it wasn't caused by one if you follow the logic from how the other 2 confirmed nails (and their fragments) are shown to work so far in game.

[@eirianocaoimh-happycamper240]

@@Eurasian_ if I recall correctly, it’s very strongly implied that the leyline disorder of Tsurumi (the fog and time loop stuff with Ruu) was cause by the destruction of the leyline trees on Tsurumi…by the Thunderbird in its rage at Ruu’s death. That’s why it loops on those few days leading up to Ruu’s death. It’s why the leyline disorder is cleared after we finish that world quest. It’s just like how Dragonspine is in eternal winter not because of the nail but because the nail destroyed Sal Vindagnyr’s leyline tree, causing the leyline disorder of eternal winter.

[@darkomiku8902]

Hoyoverse likes to explore the philosophical part of "being". In Anti-entropy Visual Novel, they talk about the boat thing, and actually replaced Reanna's body. In the end Otto could control and possess Reanna. In theresa's case, Kallen's clone, Otto said he can perfectly duplicate Kallen's memories and body but whatever Otto duplicated is still not Kallen. In HoS's case, she has the exact same body and same memories but doesn't understand the reasons which lead to Fu Hua's actions in the past, clearly, they are different people. Both duos HoV-Kiana and Seele-Veliona share the same body, but not always the same memory, but sometimes the same physical senses. They are different sides of the same person. Yes, as rarely as it is spoken, both of them have symptoms of split-personality (the game shows them visually different so that the players can tell them apart, but they actually look the same). Otto also brought a simulated Otto from 500 years ago to Collostein, inside a solium body, is that also Otto? In sumeru's archon quest, I feel they are tackling this question of what makes a person? We have body-swap, mind control, wisdom, knowledge capsule, and partial/total amnesia. And in the Elysian Realm, all 13 flame-chasers are just data simulated with enough tecnology. The only thing that separates them from being actual peoples is that they can't exist outside the Elysian Realm. In this case they have the same personality, different memories and different body from the original, already dead, flame-chasers. But Mei, Klein and even Kevin, and the game recognize them as the same person. In the end, with Mei's arrival, they managed to make different choices and carved a grandiose ending for the flame-chasers, which the original ones couldn't. From my experience with hoyoverse writing, I do feel like they are going with Nahida still has the same "soul/personality", as well as body, as Rukkhadevata, therefore they are the same person. If you deny this, then you would not be able to call the 5 years old you to be the same person as you are now. A person doesn't need and is impossible to stay the same, so memory and body are not what makes you as a person, otherwise you would be a different person each second of your life. So both Rukkhadevata and Nahida are different, because they changed, but remain the same person. Maybe you might disagree with the terminology I'm using by saying "person", but I actually don't know what else to say in this case, maybe "soul/personality"? If you replace every "person" for "sould/personality" and agree, then I guess it is just terminology disagreement. Honkai Impact is a highly philosophical game and also highly scientific game. Nothing in that game is "magic/superstition/power of friendship", it is the power of science and faith in philosophy that the characters in that game carry with them to push onwards. Tho it is fiction science, it is not random bullshit, and about philosophy you can read all the visual novels they did. Genshin appears to be very dreamy-like but under all that facade that Hoyoverse likes to misdirect us the reality might be much colder, and I expect them to cover even more controversial topics in the future and also reveal the science behind all this magic-like wonder world we are travelling in.

[@julijanamitchell6917]

I would just like to add that in both games we have the dichotomy of *ancient, very advanced technology, with an emphasis on cold logic and reasoning and yet despite that they could not save themselves from their own hubris which ultimately led to their demise* vs *the present which isn’t nearly as advanced as the ancient civilizations but there’s a lot more emphasis on humanity, compassion, hope, and spirit which is giving signs of ultimately being the real answer to the great problems.* This is much more obvious in honkai with it being nearer to the end of part 1 and the direct comparison between PE and CE, but it’s also visible in a deep lore sense in genshin, with the desert civilization, Byakuyakoku, and Khaenri’ah being far ahead technologically compared to the present and yet they are no longer around for some or other reason. In a sense, we could say that mihoyo is ultimately making long, complicated, philosophically charged fables. I’d also like to add that your comment is all in all absolutely amazing and I love your takes 💜

[@darkomiku8902]

@@julijanamitchell6917 Oh! You are right about the old advanced cold logic vs current more emotional. They themselves mention it around 3 times, even the honkai itself mentions this during HoS arc. But I wonder if that is the cause or actually the effect of a bunch of stuff. We later learn that the only way current era hersherrs are able to free themselves of destructive instincts are because of Ellie. And all the tools that made our current cast be able to tip the war to our side was developed in PE, using their cold rationality to unveil the laws of the world they live in. I think Mihoyo, just as a bunch of philosophers before, is showcasing the "what ifs" of certain way of thinking but not totally saying they are wrong. Thx for the compliment

[@julijanamitchell6917]

@@darkomiku8902 tbh I think mihoyo is calling for a balance between progress and humanity in their philosophy, which I think mihoyo also shows with their practice irl As for Ellie, she is straight up lesbian Jesus. I came to this conclusion a while ago when I realised that honkai’s “celestial” structure can be compared very well with gnosticism, just like in genshin, with the Imaginary Tree as the Monad (both are equally all-encompassing and unknowable) and while I thought that WotH was the Demiurge (still could be, knowing the 31EX lore drops), with the Ellie lore release I realised that honkai (the energy entity as a whole) is more like the Barbelo, and since Elysia is a born herrscher who just kinda…. came into being, she is 10000% the Divine Self-Originate aka Jesus according to the rest of christianity. And knowing mihoyo has a bit of a, um, pattern with their games, I don’t doubt that a Divine Self-Originate is at least somewhat responsible for the then vs now in genshin. I currently think it’s the twins, but that’s speculation based on a vibe and not much else. As well, mihoyo is 6 years into honkai and only 2 into genshin, there’s more than enough time for more juicy lore drops in genshin 🥰

[@darkomiku8902]

@@julijanamitchell6917 Pink Jesus

[@pokelover02]

Cyno has to be connected to the Scarlet King priest 100%. They look so similar, and he even pauses when he sees the Anubis tombstone after everyone else starts to leave. Also, I think Dehya might have had Eleazar but was “cured” through Dottore’s experiments. In the notes at the abandoned hospital, Specimen IV had new limb implants, and Dehya seems to have a fake arm and possibly fake leg. Both are completely covered up, and she even offers her arm up to the Eremite leader to prove she’s trustworthy. I think that’s the arm that’s technically not hers, so if he actually cut it off, maybe we’d see that it’s just a robot part? Dottore did make a mecha for Scaramouche after all. Maybe her arm was one of his prototypes.

[@hyacynth2182]

Oh I LOVE the use of the ship of Theseus as an analogy for Nahida's memory situation (and I'm sure nahida would love it too lol) I think it also makes me really narratively happy. If we ignore lore for a moment and focus on Nahida's character arc and themes from a literary standpoint, SO much of her character in the second archon quest was centered around self comparison, living up to a legacy... Because of that, I don't really like the idea of Nahida just full on going like "oh haha jk it was me all along, all my insecurities are gone." I think it's FAR more narratively interesting to think about how like... she IS a different person, in some ways. Like, she talks about how she's never spoken out against the Akasha system because it was the Greater Lord's work and it must exist for a reason, but like... even if the Akademia isn't being deceitful about what exactly the Greater Lord stood for, Nahida has had a different life which has shaped her differently, and allowed her to make different choices than her former self might have. Honestly I think her 500 years of confinement and of interacting primarily with mad scholars and citizens young enough to still dream has left her with more empathy for humanity than most other Archons we've met. Hopefully this all made sense lol, loving this video so far

[@Vael221]

One thought I had with the comparison of the Eleazar and the "Hili-Curse" is that they could be the same thing just with "Immortality" stacked on top of the hili-curse. Like, for most people Eleazar will eventually kill them as the body cannot withstand whatever is happening to it. So what if death was rendered impossible for some reason? Maybe since it cannot kill you the body continues to be warped until you wind up becoming hilichurls or whatever other abyssal being.

[@Ellaliluleloka]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@arosdeco1629]

We saw in Enkanomiya an entire civilization destroyed because of "forbidden knowledge". Khaerin'ah too. We thought it was because they discovered that the Primordial One, the first god, was an Alien basically who invaded Teyvat and banished the Dragon Vishaps. But now... a God obtain the same thing, "forbidden knowledge", dooms his entire civilization but sacrifices himself to prevent total annihilation. How are they linked? Are they the same thing? Do they have the same source (Night Mother)? And how King Deshrett's action relate to the Cataclysm only 500 years ago?

[@Joce.G]

King Deshret's actions and decision could be the same as Orobachi's. Seek knowledge, find the whole Before Sun and Moon thingy (wether that was the goal or not), then sacrifice yourself before your people pays for it.

[@figloalds]

I think that all eleazar descriptions sound like "turning into a vishap". Considering that vishaps are the original inhabitants of Teyvat, it does give me the parasite/host vibe. As if human world is collapsing and the underlying lizard world is fighting back

[@judgekonnan]

I think what they are trying to tell us is that the Scarlet King taped to knowledge from another world (probably the world from were the gods of Celestia came from) using the Irminsul, and in doing so, it weakened Irminsul letting Marana/Abyss seep thru the mortal world. The Red King built a great civilization with this power but eventually had to sacrifice it to contain the darkness. Years later Khaenri'ah tried to replicate this technology for the war without realizing that it lets the Abyss lose until it was too late. There's even a possibility that something similar happened to Enkonomiya, which is why they seemed connected to Khaenri'ah , but maybe they just made similar mistakes when building the Dainishi Mikoshi.

[@LeafletsReality]

as someone who instantly 100% the desert… i LOVE what hoyo did with the big questline of the update!

[@aerissai8341]

Yanfei's still searching for details in the desert so she called in Shinobu to present 3.1 for her.

[@solarin9756]

So not used to not seeing yanfei as the “speaker” and wanted to comment about it but then found this instead and now this shall be my head canon…

[@aerissai8341]

Just got a Like from Ashikai. Feeling good.

[@piggy2307]

The part about overdose of elementa energy lines up with the fact that vision holders have more resistance to the effects of the withering. This could probaby mean that their bodies have developed some level of immunity because of a milder exposure to elemental energy present within their vision. There's also the part about Dottore being able to "cure" Collei's Eleazar by ingecting her with archon residue? and that after the sealing performed by Cyno her symptoms were coming back. I wonder if they are some sort of opposing forces

[@reeceypufffs]

7:42 my take is that if kusanali has the knowledge then the sages will have even less control over the akedamiya and knowledge in general whereas if they use scara, the puppet, they could've made a deal to have or keep complete control over knowledge and the akademiya if they helped him obtain godhood

[@nilotpalalda8426]

So controlling harbinger rank 2 and 6 is much easier than controlling a divine child who trusts you. Seems like a right plan 🤣

[@OPardalzin]

I have similar views, Scaramouche is a god they "made", they would probably have some protocols and mechanisms to keep him in check, I don't think they would give him as much power and knowledge if they weren't confident that he would obey them. There's a high chance that they will do to him what they've done to Kusanali and keep him trapped somewhere. Also Kusanali doesn't trust them and probably would resist doing as they say, and the Sages also don't trust her. Kusanali stepped out off line trying to help us stop the Akademyia's deeds but got even more locked away in the Sanctuary by Dottore and the Sages in the process.

[@nilotpalalda8426]

@@OPardalzin isn't Dottore the mastermind behind all this!? and wasn't it the sages who rejected Nahida first. They could've easily just fed her knowledge through stories or whatever. Ultimately the only thing she was missing was her old memories. Was it that hard compared to creating an entirely new god who may or may not adhere to the agreement between them, given the bad reputation they have as a fatui harbingers. 2nd Ranked Harbinger of all people is involved.

[@OPardalzin]

@@nilotpalalda8426 Yeah, Dottore has persuaded the Sages, it wasn't even that hard because the Sages were in so upset at Rukkhas's death. And yeah for them it probably would have been easier to just help Kusanali become wiser from the very beggining. But it's as they say, people tend to look for answers on the hardest, most difficult paths and ways when in reality the answer usually lies on the simpler one that is right in front of you. (Kinda like when you lose something and look everywhere in your house, even in places where it obviously wouldn't be cause you weren't there with the object in the first place, only to find that it was in your desk the entire time)

[@reeceypufffs]

@@nilotpalalda8426 I don't think rank or status matters to the sages seeing as how they've imprisoned THE NEW ARCHON and they would probably be more likely to make a deal with an organization that understandings the workings of a mutual agreement over a child with no memories or understanding, and no promise to let them rule after she's gained the knowledge

[@maddasher8471]

sages: are you doctor yet. nahida: but Im only 500. sages: talk to me when you doctor.

[@ArgoBargo]

I’ll miss yanfei, but I’ll accept kuki into my heart with grace

[@lilfrost3507]

Girl, you have done it again, constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly. I’d say I’m surprised but I know who you are!

[@josearmandovalencia7349]

Hahahaha michelle obama 💖💖💖🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Jullieett9]

My fav thing right now is what Pierro says in the beginning of Harbingers vid, about sages thinking themselves all knowing and humans, it kinda fits Sumeru, so history like to repeat itself :)

[@jessicatH22]

With the whole withering being caused by excess elemental energy, I believe tighnaris story quest touches on this as in it amplified leaking ley lines caused withering-like effects on an area, however tighnari explicitly states that it was not the withering, but something different

[@lilianne959]

Regarding Dainsleif at the end, I think that the ruined civilizations of Dragonspine, Enkanomiya and the Chasm were all the children of the Primordial One, and that the survivors who managed to escape the purging of the second ones (Celestia) regrouped as Khaenriah. When the Tsarista refers to the Old World, she refers to the world before the second ones came.

[@ladyryuki308]

everytime kusanali called herself the moon and said the sun is long gone i took it as like, just as the moon reflects back the light of the sun she too is just what remains or what the sun left behind. maybe she didn't mean it that way but it's what she is, unknowingly.

[@andrewcloudy]

OTTO: The world allows a mind to find another matching vessel, but does not allow the vessel to gather the pieces of a mind

[@simp4583]

I noticed something interesting in dragonspine, these lights from mini pilars to warm you up are exactly the same as the lights in the desert dungeons but a lot smaller. I don't believe it's an accident lmao

[@lynnthomas8457]

On/off topic Ash, I only started playing about 6 months ago, and im trying to experiance the game organically and in order, rather than rushing through to Fontaine. The fact that you put the nessessary quests at the begining of every video has been an IMMENSE help in finding the right quests and doing things in order. Will be back to watch this after I finish Cyno and Nilou's story quests!

[@cantanuh]

Everytime I'm doing a quest or something and I get an important piece of lore, I always remember how Ashikai predicted 6 years ago.

[@michyuu5903]

Hey ashikai! I also want to mentioned that in one of the aranaras quest there was a fatui spy in the village close to port ormos! And the spy mentioned the knave ans he said “the doctor wants to experiment with the aranaras the knave wants the children for the army” I don’t know if this is exactly what he said but he did mentioned arlecchino! My theory is that dottore and arlecchino are searching for children of sumeru for the fatui army and by that they’ll lure the children out by the aranaras so dottore can see how the children can see them!

[@maskedpanda8502]

I've always thought after hearing the architecture comment from Dainsleif that the unified nation had quite a few survivors, but that the survivors(akin to Enkanomiya) forgot because they were made to forget. Either by the gods/shades that were protecting them wanting them to live on without them(since they can't be remembered/allowed to exist), or by Celestia. Besides, it would explain how in a world that has gods, a single nation was without one. And I mean without even just a god living there, in a world where there were enough to have a battle royale a single nation had none? It being underground to me always made me feel it was an Enkanomiya situation, just the shade they looked to was unable to get back in contact even once. In fact, I would bet that shade gave them the art of Khemia and that fact of that was lost over time, and possibly/probably an Odin stand-in(since they have a statuette that looks him in-game). Also, probably not too important, but in real life there is little saying of "The sands of time", and Istaroth is heavily linked to West Asia which is mostly sands...so maybe while she was able to get in contact with Enaknomiya, it was more because that was the safest option than her own specific people? I know in Genshin time is more linked to wind...but kinda funny how they went with Mesopotanaian and Egyptian goddesses who connect to Greek for the first Shade reveal and the VERY next region has those exact influences.

[@stephim7399]

Always so interesting and enlightening to hear your theories. For example I couldn't make up my mind if Rukkhadevata's younger body was more of a young teen or Nahida already, and after you mentioned the dendro statue's size I was "ah of course, that makes sense :)". Now I am debating about the connection between Khaenri'ah's dark star symbol and King Deshret's (oh no, another mind puzzle). I didn0t even realise they were so similar. Also I believe the goddess of flower's has a big part in this story and is kept for the finale, let's see what happens, I can't wait !

[@Shattered_Sanity]

Here is a wild theory: What if the power of Delusions is a weaponised and somewhat controlled version of Eleazar that Dottore created somehow? I mean, delusions steal one's life force, or rather overload it to the point of the body being unable to handle it and just withers like the plants. Food for thought maybe? This has been bugging me for some time since I stumbled upon the hospital and after seeing what Eleazar does to one's body.

[@thechosen0ne1]

nope that actually isn't the case as delusions are made from the archon residue or perhaps from the corrupted residue, ex tatarigami quest where the orobashi died they made a delusion factory there. meaning Eleazar is different from Delusions. It Also means that delusions stripping off the life force of someone is also related to eleazar? maybe a variation ???

[@kchandayco2372]

Reading the Note in the locked cabinet at the Eleazar Hospital, I think the “Doctor” there is most definitely Dottere. Which would give some credence for Dottere being the plague doctor mask seeing as Elezear could be seen as plague despite…not seemingly be contagious.

[@madiv2098]

i’m surprised you took candace being the descendant at face value. maybe it’s just me but in her profile stories it sounded like the scion role being only given to descendants of king deshret was a myth they were told.

[@Ashikai]

Mm put "descendent" in quotes. I think it's possible so I'll take it at face value until I find something conclusive to actively disprove it.

[@NotMattForman]

I can't wait to hear your in-depth thoughts on Deshret and Forbidden Knowledge. In Enkanomiya we know there was knowledge that Celestia weren't the original gods, but the punishment was seemingly an explicit death sentence from Celestia. For Deshret we don't know the nature of the knowledge but it seemed like he made a discovery or overreached somehow and that lead to some fracture in reality that lead to the slumber and exposed his people to the Abyss/Marana/etc. Wild speculation here, but maybe he found a way to see outside of the Teyvat bubble while the Abyss was attacking during the war, (such as the reality of the outside universe?) and got too close to the "Abyssal membrane" and the dam burst, psychologically speaking.

[@0bserver00]

Dang I have a wild theory of rukhadevata can time travel stein gate style using the iriminsul tree, as stated she dissapeared into the iriminsul during the cataclysm to "heal the world". She travel back to the archon war era , help king desheret against this forbidden knowledge which I assume is just the abyss stuff, exert her power, shrik and came back to the present as kusanali Probably because the event of the cataclysm is so dire that such drastic actions is required. She rewrite history , majorly nerf the abyss force during the cataclysm and then get defeated by the archon . Rukhadevata just rewrote the timeline. Maybe in the original timeline , the archon may have lost. maybe this is why scaramouche said the sky were fake, as they are in the alternate timeline, and their fates are all wrong and maybe this is why Zhongli have a contract not to speak about what happened in the cataclysm, its supposed to be a big secret among the archon. Maybe this is the divine knowledge, as people tap into the iriminsul and see the branches to original timeline and gone insane. Maybe The iriminsul was never sick, the withering is just a pocket dimensions that shows what the original timeline should look like, as the original and alternate timeline is closely intertwined.

[@theysisossenthime]

Someone in my life gave me the best answer to the question about how many parts can you replace before a thing is no longer the original. Tl:dr - there is no limit, only a sense of relation. The only thing that makes the thing the thing is that you identify or relate to it as such. So if I have a car or boat or whatever, I can replace the every piece multiple times. It still remains to be the same boat. But as soon as I no longer claim the car/boat/thing as mine and another claims it as theirs, even though no part has changed, it is now a new thing.

[@charisleath]

I think Eleazar and the Hili-curse are two different things that both come from the root cause of forbidden knowledge. I think the hili-curse is Celestia's way of stopping Khaenr'ians, people corrupted by forbidden knowledge, from entering the leylines with it. If they died with that knowledge it could potentially inflict super-marana on Teyvat. So the immortality stops them from dying and going into the leylines, and the erosion stops the memories from entering the leylines since the afflicted people lose their memories and fade away. I think Eleazar is a more organic, naturally occurring curse. In the cutscene it's not presented like anyone purposely afflicted them with it, like Celestia and the Khaenr'ians, but rather it naturally happened as a result of the people not being able to withstand the forbidden knowledge and corruption spread by Deshret. In Genshin there seems to be a strong link between the mind and the body; if something happens to the mind then there's also a consequence for the body and vice versa. If the mind regresses,the body regresses. So if the mind is broken, the body also breaks. So I wonder if the hilichurl transformation and the presentation of Eleazar are a result of a natural law like this, rather than a specifically intended effect of the curse.

[@AOKellyJr]

Had no idea about the fertilizer/plant thing. Fantastic example. Love your vids because im constantly learning about subjects outside of genshin (Thanks for that)! I think you may be right about an excess of elemental energy causing the withering.

[@Ashikai]

I knew someone who actually did that recently. Dumped an entire box of miraclegro on his Cannabis plant sand then got really mad when it died lol

[@AOKellyJr]

@@Ashikai an entire box😂💀rip to the homies plant

[@GeneSysFNLT]

I'm so glad I watched this vid, because it cleared up some confusion I had after the Rukka cut scene, regarding the Statues of the Seven.

[@kehan6252]

I also want to add this point A god shrinks to a smaller form because they expended so much power. Gouba shrinked at quite a large scale and still retains at least a fraction of his memories. Rukkhadevata (or Kusanali since we now know they are basically the same person) on the other hand, lost every single memory she had and became a child. So the first time she shrunk was after trying to cure the madness along with the Scarlet King and she still retained some of her knowledge and strength. The 2nd time she shrunk is most likely during the Cataclysm but if she shrunk to a point that she all her knowledge and even her identity, it means she used a largely enormous amount of power but for what reason? Before Sumeru was released, there were theories that she was killed by Celestia assuming she was against the Destruction of Khaenriah. But with what we know now including the "World...forget me..." (assuming it was Rukkhadevata who said that), it seems that she intentionally used up all of her power and rather than a suicide, it had to have been a sacrifice. As the God of Wisdom, she would not use all her power without a good reason especially since it took all her knowledge and identity away. But the question is, what was the sacrifice for? She took such as massive risk so I believe the purpose had to be something world changing. Here is my theory: Just like how Makoto died, she used the Forbidden Element in Teyvat, TIME, to create the sacred sakura tree for Ei so she would be a worthy god of Inazuma. She waited for the future where Ei was finally able to understand everything. Just like this, Rukkhadevata might have also done the same. Except she didn't use TIME [I say this because Celestia most likely killed Makoto for using the TIME element as it's greatly forbidden, Rukkhadevata didn't die, she reincarnated into Nahida], but with what we saw for the time in Sumeru, her consciousness was directly inside the Irminsul Tree. We are the main character and out of all the people who tried to make contact with Irminsul (those who did, had gone mad), we did not go mad (most likely since we are not from Teyvat) instead we made contact with Irminsul and even Rukkhadevata's conscious herself. Zhongli wanted us to remember the history of Teyvat since we move from world to world, so Rukkhadevata might have also waited till someone from another world. I might be crazy to think that Rukkhadevata can predict the future, but remember that her powers are also related to dreams and prophecy. Similar to how regular stories would go, Rukkhadevata would wait for us and provide us with something to defeat Celestia or solve the Eleazar with Sumeru. Defeating Celestia might happen at the end of the Teyvat Chapter tho. This is just my theory tho,

[@silis_pap8473]

Just finished 90% of the desert, so pumped for this!

[@GwiYeoMi]

Love your lore summary! I definitely agree with the points about the connection between Rukkhadevata and losing her memories when she uses a lot of power, but at this point I don't think we have meaningful evidence for or against the idea that after helping the Scarlet King, Rukkhadevata kept enough of her memories to retain her identity. For all we know, it could be that help and knowledge from the people of Sumeru are what keep her incarnations "synced", and them failing (or refusing?) to do so after the Cataclysm is the reason why Kusanali is Kusanali instead of Rukkhadevata.

[@jlupe4858]

Oooohhh idk why my brain didn't think about Gouba God hood and his whole shrinkage deal until you pointed it out, maybe I was just too absorbed by his fluffiness lol

[@ZeonZenes]

Venti does something similar with winds of the past in his story quest way back in 1.0 with his interactions with Stanely.

[@noelmarshall4247]

About “Slumbering Court”: in the game geography it actually makes a lot of sense! When you come to shore through hidden by tree cave entrance, you have two closest islands which are seen from there: Narukami with Shogun’s residence and Tatarasuna with second been the closest. If Scara ever awakened from his “slumber” (it’s everywhere described as “slumber” in game) exactly in the court (which is implied to belong to Shogun), Tatarasuna would be his straight choice. Waverider Point there is also almost perfection inviting us to Tatarasuna. Other things to mention: 1) Shakkei Pavillion was neither created by Shogun, nor ever belonged to her, unlike the Court, which is implied to be in the description. 2) In Rather Aged Notes it’s mentioned that Katsuragi found Scara on Nazuchi Beach while in the Pavilion’s description it’s said that “a deeply disheartened eccentric would be discovered within”. It really feels like he was in Shakkei after that moment in the cutscene when his heart was broken. So it might be not an animation mistake exactly! It might be either translation mistake in Shakkei Pavilion’s description or the timeline for him being there will be established later.

[@ObscureFox103]

Regarding dottore and Greek lettering: it makes more sense for him to use the Greek alphabet when you consider that Childe's parents named him Ajax. Ajax is the name of a Greek hero from the illiad, who has a brother named Teucer. Unless Childe's parents were just enkanomiya nerds, it's possible that shneznaya has more of a connection to Mediterranean cultures than we might think, especially because the harbingers are all named after commedia del arte, a form of Italian improv comedy. Tbh the weird naming conventions of shneznaya could make an entire theory in of itself

[@BlackGateofMordor]

Don't remember if this is theory or fact, but I've seen people say that what are Greek myths in our world are probably Enkanomiyan/UWC myths in Teyvat. So it's not that Snezhnaya has Greek influence, but that Tartaglia's father decided to name his sons after great mythical Enkanomiyan heroes. The Italian stuff and the mega-cultural mix that Fontaine and Natlan seem to be don't rule out what you're saying though.

[@ObscureFox103]

@@BlackGateofMordor yeah that's what I meant by "unless Childe's parents were enkanomiya nerds." What I don't know is if greek-sounding names and legends are common in shneznaya or if Childe is the exception. To the other theory however, I'm pretty sure Ajax is canonically the name of an enkanomiyan hero, but because the illiad is such a huge part of Greek culture (and enkanomiya has its own things) I don't think it's a case of "illiad but make it genshin"

[@Ashikai]

Ah that's a good point.

[@frostfang1040]

Holy crap this is clearly like- so much work- Ashikai you are just incredible! I got huge respect for the work you put into this research and make it so entertaining to watch!

[@NyxInAshes]

Oh I also come to add that you know how rukkadevata says world forget me well all this time when you walk up to a statue of the seven the statue said world forget me in this whisper since the games launch, after doing the world quest it will no longer whisper

[@velvetjay8907]

Really appreciate these videos as they help recap before the next version. I did notice you missed out the crumbs we got from Capitano heading Natlan so a little teaser on who we'll be facing in 5.0. Anyway keep up the amazing work Ashikai :D

[@Ashikai]

Yeah I mentioned that in the description box because I forgot to include it until after the video rendered and it wasn't worth going back in to add 15 seconds to mention it. :P

[@AJSketches]

after the recent archon quest, i cannot wait for ashikais new theory video for the end of 3.2 archon quest because of that HEAVY heavy lore drop that nahida gave us 😩

[@strgz5329]

i just happen to finish the 3.0 aranyaka quest after finishing the 3.1 story quest, and it stood out to me, that Alhaithams AI/jarvis/friday device, extracted knowledge/memories out of the tomb of the scarlet kind, much like the aranara did from the trees, and there were also the bright green tether wine things present during the transfer of knowledge/memories. What I am saying is, Alhaitham has the same ability as Aranara, but through technology rather than just some magic

[@NoxComet]

I love the ship of Theseus thought experiment and how it can be applied to Kusanali, it really makes you think about what we perceive as identity and what parts of your self are important to your identity. Is the body, as in the physical matter, and what you look like important parts of your identity? Is the mind the only thing that defines it? If your mind changes or is “reset”, as in the loss of all acquired knowledge, are you still the same person you were before? Even if you might look the same or similar, the new knowledge you acquire would perhaps shape a completely different personality and, in my opinion, a different identity. Very thought provoking stuff 😊 Thanks again for another great video!

[@PerceptualAbyss8777]

I had a semi dark\weird theory about Razor's parents that turned out to be false by the time the last act of Weinlesefest came out and it was that he was a product of an affair between Lisa and Varka

[@Zarozian]

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARDWORK ASHIKAI! YOUR WORK IS GOLDEN AND TOP TIER AS ALWAYS!

[@uchosewiselee6776]

Hey, was reading the lore on the scarlet king and wondered what you thought. It was said that goddess of flowers died and scarlet king became mad afterwards and was unfortunate that he was unable to realize the intentions of her death. This suggests that she knew of his affection towards her, but possibly due to the restriction of her being a seelie, meant she cannot reciprocate less she activates the seelie curse. With the scarlet king, it was said that he was looking for power or knowledge and it turned out to be forbidden bringing ruin to his kingdom in the form of death. Perhaps he was researching a type of resurrection. He was the progenitor of the early Akasha system and therefore used this to harvest knowledge (which we find is equivalent to power) to enable this to happen. Unfortunately, this power failed whether it being him borrowing the powers of the abyss or unintentionally releasing it, the effect is it caused his kingdom to collapse and survivors congregated to the Aaru village. Greater Lord then arrived and used the power of life to hold death back.

[@jackvalior]

Desertification is also a thing. If you have too much sands, it choke out life, kill trees, change the hydro cycle, and create more desert. So a wall that block some of that sand is a very good thing and only small amount scattered high into the air as it smash into the wall can come through.

[@tuxmaceo2020]

Loving these recaps/highlights. They are MUCH needed

[@genznnGaming]

Great Summary video, cant wait for the in depth vidoes in future, but do remember to tc of yourself as well

[@timothybuff8338]

I’ve never clicked so quick before, I have been waiting for this. I understood a lot of the lore but your so good at explaining everything in a clear concise way.

[@Royalhuntsman-to9tn]

super hyped to see what's in that giant sand tornado, the glowing blue hue within it is really suspicious lol

[@RebornFinalExa]

@Ashikai About the Kusanali is Rukkhadevata part I think you forgot about a detail: Nahida states in Act II that she is "the first Akasha terminal", and she also acknowledges that "the sun is long gone". Since you brought up Gouba splitting up in multiple different bodies and Rukkha at one point created the Akasha, wouldn't the case be more like this: - Rukkha split a tiny fragment of herself into Kusanali to create the Akasha, with Kusanali being like the "administrator" of sorts, since she basically has "powers" over the Akasha, that also may explain the absence of her memories since it's more like Gouba was created, and Gouba too has a very restricted "intellect"; - We know that happened around the Khaenriah war since Kusanali was found after Rukkha's death, so maybe she created the Akasha to let her people live with her legacy; - Extra, honkai stuff: if Kusanali is based off Theresa Rukkha is based off Kallen and the "partial soul passage" that happens in Honkai seems repeated there if you consider what I stated above. Hope you read this!

[@Rednative]

Waking up and starting my day with your videos is the best 🤩

[@pandabugdiaries2384]

Holy cow, doing the Time and Wind quest right now and just realized u saying that time and venti are connected suddenly makes even more sense (im a somewhat new player so i haven't gotten all of the quests and exploration done in any of the regions yet)

[@mimiestkitty]

I never realized Enkanomiya was Greek inspired but now it reminds me of Atlantis the way it sank beneath the Earth.

[@lowliethxd1471]

7:30 I think it's because 1) They would have less control over the knowledge. 2) Kusanali might object to the idea. If she knew that her mental enhancement pills are derived from people who had gone insane trying to comprehend it, then she'll surely say something like "I don't want this knowledge if it is hurting my people". Then if the Sages pushed it, Kusanali will try to stop the manufacture of the divine knowledge capsules. From the archon quest, she is aware of the sarvatha (the one where scholars use incense to get in touch with the divine) practice. She also knows that they are people who have went crazy trying to comprehend it in Auru village. She is aware of knowledge capsules. But I don't think she knows that the mad scholars are being used to make divine knowledge. Because the top sages might have disconnected from the Akasha (they did this too when they orchestrated the Sabseruz dream loop, Nahida only noticed it because she was able to connect to the dreams.) when they make divine knowledge capsules in order to keep her from not knowing. Caging her is also one way of limiting her movements. 3) The divine knowledge capsules might be poisonous to Kusanali or somethin. Seeing as Kusanali is a derived from Rukkha, and Rukkha had been intouch with the "forbidden knowledge". Gaining the forbiddin knowledge might corrupt Nahida too. 4) Nahida even as a god, is too frail to consume the divine knowledge. Unlike Scara who is a puppet and that has more resistance to the bad effects. 5) As Scara has said, he is a blank slate. While Nahida had already accrued her knowledge in thd span of her 500 years. So in a way, the sages thought it would be easier to construct a god who is blank. They can dump many more wisdom to him and such. Plus Scara is cleared of any emotion. Which would make him more logical. And the wisdom he'll bring will not be affected by his feelings, only purely objective outputs. While for Nahida, well she has emotions, so if they make Nahida into a "GOD", her wisdom.. will not be as objective as Scara.

[@MahirAnowar]

A little theory, what if the knowledge that King Deshret received was none other than the same knowledge Orobaxi received as well? And since Rukkhadevata was a friend of Deshret, he might have told her too. It brought upon the wrath of the gods, they sent down the celestial nail and they tried to destroy the desert. And after Deshret sacrificed himself for the gods to finally ease their punishment, a while later, they turned their attention to Rukkhadevata's area, Sumeru. So Rukkhadevata pleaded with them, making them a promise that the "world will forget her" and sacrificed all of her wisdom and memories to save Sumeru from the same wrath the desert faced. And after leaving all her memories behind, she regressed into Kusanali.

[@LoveeMia]

Ohhhhhh snap. This is now my head cannon until proven otherwise. It makes so much sense!

[@tbdlol]

23:23 I haven't played Cyno's story quest yet, but I laughed so hard seeing Paimon fly escaping those collapse😂

[@lisiastar8441]

Imo the main differences between rukhadevata's first shrinking and the second one,is that 1 she 2k years ago had some friends still with her(like the god of flowers) which when rukhadevata shrunk and lost some of her memories(amongst other things) these friends of hers could've helped and give her some kind of protection,2 she wouldn't have spent too much of her power,yes quite a lot,but not so much to the point of a whole new god. then by the time the cataclysm happened,she no longer had these friends/lost those that remained in the war(think back to Raiden) and she had to spend everything else that she still got to protect her region,so in this sense she completely anhilited what little she still had by the end of the war,hence why when they discovered kusanali she was in a weakened state. we could also add on top of this that the first mages might not have been as knowledge-hungry as they currently are(or have been evolving into for the past centuries). then again i or we could all be wrong with these theories and just have to wait,but couldn't really stop thinking of this possibility honestly ^^"

[@lukecraske6108]

Awesome awesome vid as always! One thing though. Tbh I don't think the whole Kusanali/Rukkhadevata thing is quite a ship of Theseus situation - it seems to be much simpler imo. Rukkhadevata is dead, because everything that made her who she was (memories, experiences and all that) is gone. Kusanali is a brand new person, who just happens to occupy the body formerly belonging to Rukkhadevata

[@TheBeardenedBear]

Thanks for that. I'm excited to see your take on the history of the desert as well, can't wait for it:)

[@Amefidy]

Something tells me that when Layla comes out she will be the new Ashikai mascot

[@gatra1320]

I think the reason they are not using Gnosis is because the Sage agreed to give Dottore the gnosis if they can have the True God of Wisdom which is scaramouche in the making without using the gnosis, hence win-win situation and how akademiya agreed to it . if they use the Gnosis to create scaramouche then one of them would lose something lmao.

[@davidedesalvi8984]

The only Genshin channel worth watching, we love you Ashikai, thank you for the work you put in these videos. I hope you have a great day

[@marios.2975]

Love you talking! So entertaining, and your attitude is cool.

[@scottamusprime2510]

21:43 Fun food for thought how the location Scara was dropped off differs between 7 months ago when this video was posted and later on AFTER HE TOUCHED IRMINSUL AND CHANGED HISTORY WUT. The Wanderer truly is a fourth wall breaker, even going so far as to mess with our real world timeline. 🙃

[@LinardBraslin]

Excellent video! Well then: I definitely agree that the Dendro archon had regressed multiple times after exhausting her power I think the Akademiya has taken their unwise misinterpretation habit a bit further and confused Divine Wisdom Capsules with the Memory of Marana extracted from Irminsul's infection, which is the same thing that drove the Scholars mad, so feeding it to the Baladeer is a hehe idea xD I agree that the Hilichurl curse is a latent stage of Elezar or at least closely related The idea of both these diseases being characterized by high concentrations of elemental energy makes me draw some conclusions about the Abyss. Abyss is pure concentrated chaos, and do you know what originated from pure chaos in the Greek mythaslogy? Everything. So it makes me conclude that the Abyss is not necesserily an innately evil thing, but it just holds in itself infinite potential, which tends to overload and melt living orcganisms just like electric circuits. And from this I can conclude that the Forbidden knowledge of King Deshret is the same thing as the Abyssal corruption. If we remember the Chasm event cutscene with the Traveler, he entered a domain where he saw the Abyss. Was the Abyss depicted here something scarry? No, it was just an infinite expanse of stelar space. Maybe the Abyss Hounds are just creatures who feast on concentrated elemental energy from the Leylines, which in turn causes dangerous leakage. I completefly agree that Khanri'ah, King Dezhret's civilization and Enkanomiya were once a part of a great and advance unified global civilizatio under Phanes, who was overthrown by Celestia later on? Or replaced?

[@krys9463]

Ah yes, putting divine knowledge that caused people to go mad into an emotionally unstable puppet, pumping them with archon residue(?), and shoving them into a giant robot can't possibly go wrong! Solid plan scholars. 🤣 I'm not sure what that purple stuff is but I'm just assuming it might be archon residue since Dottore played around with it when he was running that hospital.

[@pangs2aupangs113]

Super like. I could go another 5 hrs listening (while at work). I havent played sumeru yet as I am waiting to pull for kusanali as I’d like to explore with her. Anyways. Quality content as usual

[@alexhuettl1716]

So I thought of something when you were talking about Kusanali and Guoba, and it has to do with Venti. He has so many references and ties to Istaroth. I wonder if something happened and Istaroth ended up sacrificing so much of their power that they shrunk down into a tiny form. Like, perhaps, that of a small wind spirit? Like Venti.

[@grentel4404]

Maybe the gods have their power inherently or the gnosis (possibly containing divine knowledge) is still needed to produce a god. A Popular Theory out there is that Kusanali and Rukkhadevata are the same person. In lore it is stated that Rukkhadevata basically used her power up and turned into a child. If we go by that, Kusanali is a god without divine knowledge because she forgott it. Maybe Rukkhadevata not only used up all of her power but in doing so also lost all her memories. This Theorie also ties in with a theorie sorounding Paimon. That she was once a God that used up all of her power, therefore losing all of her memories and turning into a child. Edit: should have watched the whole video

[@cofeespear4992]

Omg yes someone else FINALLY brought up the ship theory I been bringing it up everywhere comparing the sumeru god and her memory loss

[@draphsor]

Love your videos-thank you so much!

[@StormtrooperChilde]

I just watched a video similar to this in terms of Rukkhadevata and Kusanali and both makes sense. Also, I'm beginning to wonder about Traveler's purification skill from Mondstadt archon quest, which was explored during The Chalk Prince and The Dragon event. I haven't done all world quests but it seems that skill kind of no longer mentioned.

[@Frazzled_Chameleon]

Candace, Dehya, and Alhaitham are all parts of the Scarlet King and when their powers combine (a la Captain Planet) they form the Desert King, the Seelie, and the Goddess of Flowers.

[@wolfkitty42]

If Candace, Dehya and Al Haitham represent the Scarlet King, maybe Kusanali keeps representing Rukkhedevata and Nilou is the goddess of flowers. Nilou actually makes a ton of sense because she talks about how everywhere the goddess of flowers stepped, padisarahs bloomed. And Nilou is... Kind of doing the same thing, or at least her kit has potential to be used to make stuff bloom like crazy. That and her outfit seal the deal for me.

[@cali504x1]

I made the mistake to finish all archon missions and all I have now is this thirst for knowing who’s the sinner, who’s the traveler, and how this is gonna end

[@bukhanka]

New video! My day just got infinitely better 🎉

[@bonifacioteodorico7919]

Thank you, you are fun fast and complete I don't have time for the events

[@adityawidarma3803]

I thought you're gonna put the Dottore's Abbas Project, which is take on handing Eleazar patient that resulted in possibly the origin of Delusion

[@graceparker1512]

I think eleazar might only be able to fully manifest in Khaenri’ans, which is why they turned into hilichurls.

[@eliotverret7391]

Thank you so much for your work !

[@Punniz]

Sumeru is making me more excited for lore video more than ever