[4.0] Archon & World Quest Recap and Analysis - Genshin Impact

[@ap0llogetic427]

I didn't expect Neuvillette to be such a sweetheart but honestly I'm loving his character so far and can't wait to see what they do with our hydro dragon

[@karolinabuba575]

Literally! I love his personality! I would have pulled him simply because of his design but him being so precious makes me like him even more

[@canadalovesanime3137]

He gives me Xaio vibes. Cool on the outside, sensitive and caring on the inside. He also seems rather sad, lonely and awkward like Cyno and Xaio. I just feel like he needs to be protected like the other two.

[@yuki97kira]

Hydro dragon, hydro dragon, dont cry! He caught my heart the moment he appeared on screen. But im sad his banner is with wriothesley and i had promised myself to get wriotheseley. If im lucky, i might try for both, but i doubt id be able to

[@ap0llogetic427]

@@yuki97kira good luck!

[@yuki97kira]

@@ap0llogetic427 thank you!

[@ayanokoji9608]

Rejoice fellas , finally.

[@stellarmelody2784]

Ayo nice profile

[@KatsuImagitian]

That idea that Furina is actually weakening herself could hold water because iirc Furina's twin tail hairs are always glowing in yer scenes where they're visible and the glow usually represents an Archon utilizing their elemental power (like in game when using their Bursts). So if true it would definitely explain why Furina refuses to fight, she's too busy using most of her actual strength keeping Fontaine running.

[@sparklylexi2159]

haha. holds water

[@saturn_lynx5910]

Here’s a thought, what if the reason she is constantly using her power is because of the rising Fontaine waters, she’s trying to keep the water as low as she can. Another thought is that she doesn’t understand how the og hydro archon was able to use the Oratrice to power Fontaine so instead she creates a constant stream of hydro to power Fontaine instead WHILST the Oratrice still does its thing. - Apologies if this is a bit confusing

[@LucidAtray07]

Oh god I didn't notice the glowing part, if that's true that's just so fucking depressing

[@khanhquocvong]

That’s interesting because I’ve noticed that, while idling, the outer shell of the hydro hypostasis (as well as cryo) glows under elemental sight, while the other hypostases have neutral shells until it launches an attack

[@LucidAtray07]

@@khanhquocvong woah that. Actually gives some food for thought. Bc I wouldn't be surprised if the Tsaritsa, with everything we know, is also constantly using her powers...

[@aelfgernon7729]

At first I didn't like Furina's character, but then it occured to me that she is like water. She is easily swayed by the opinions of random people. And pushed by them will crash into things and dissipate. She reacts to every force applied to her and molds around it.

[@Clau3734]

that’s a really nice comparison, I’m sure Mihoyo did it on purpose. A hydro archon should be similar to water of course. like rukkha and nahida were like plants. when you cut a branch from a dying plant and plant it somewhere again it’ll grow again. i’m excited to see other comparisons like these.

[@svahn1]

Just in case you missed it, if you go back to Annepausis to the fountain where the hydro "statue" of princess Lyris was, you can find the story the whole quest was based on. It's basically a conversation between two characters where one is making up the story as they go. It's quite an interesting read.

[@piyushverma7534]

If i had to guess the "friend" that composes the story along with Mary-Ann is probably either Lyris or Rene.

[@rdmtc]

thanks for this comment! i went ahead and looked for the book, and i found it.. there's a lot of theories that i have in my head because of this

[@svahn1]

@@rdmtc you're welcome! I was very excited when I stumbled upon it a few days after finishing the quest. It might not have any huge lore implications but it's cool to see some of these characters' personalities and relationships with each other.

[@lucky6kirby]

From the information I gathered, "A Story" took place after Lyris regressed. In Enigmatic Page VII, Rene says: "...It's really nice to see her again. But there's nothing here except water... "The director has been observing these scenes for so long, so I'm sure she feels much of the same sorrow. I should visit her when I have the time... Build a new home and bring her over? Jakob would be happy too. "..I'll visit the director again next time. I heard Mary-Ann will be coming to see her too. It would be nice if we could meet. After all, right now Alain is..." It's definitely Mary-Ann creating the story because at the end of "A Story," the other person talking to Lyris talks about having to go back to their "silly dog." So it seems Mary-Ann visits Lyris at the Institute while the latter was in a child-like state and that's why the conversation sounded like that between two children. Honestly, it's quite sad because I think at that point, Lyris felt super close to Mary-Ann. So perhaps after Mary-Ann's death during the confrontation inside Elynas, Lyris absorbed her memories, thus eventually leading to the creation of that "clear, bright pearl of water," or Ann. This is my speculation, but I believe the "Mary-Ann" we see in the quest is actually Lyris, who's pretending to be Mary-Ann. When the group entered that fairy-tale-like place, it was the location where Princess Lyris supposedly should have been found. The watery mirage of Princess Lyris shares the same appearance as "Mary-Ann." She also says some interesting things in the quest such as, "I once heard my best friend tell a story about a beautiful princess trapped in a high tower," and, "I've heard Basil say that caring for children is like caring for a flower. You need good soil, sufficient sunlight, frequent watering, and you can't let them grow however they want." I think most of the children would have referred to Basil as "Vice Director."

[@Ikcatcher]

I really enjoy Fontaine’s world quests being smaller pieces of a larger narrative rather than just seperate lore dumps of a nation

[@NihilRefertSubSole13]

inside Elynas in "A Lonely Place" there is a weirdly placed Inazuman Ship along with a destroyed pillar. "weirdly placed" unless Raiden Makoto was swallowed by Elynas, and Raiden Ei's mention of "that thing" in the previous quest is actually Elynas itself.

[@idk-sy3iu]

omg that makes a lot of sense

[@Eb-sq3jd]

Oh shit you might be on to something with this one

[@enryu7886]

hmm if ur talking about the half ship in that area then i think thats basil or whatever the name was of the other person with lyris managing the orphanage in the beginning of the melusines quest where we had to fix seymour the dog we do 2 other quests portion one and the ghost ship one if u read the logs along the way its mentioned that they fought elynas which killed the the captian and his crew along with ofcourse elynas have the ship is in elynas other half on the king crab island ( dont remember the exact location of the other half but its shown in the quest )

[@NihilRefertSubSole13]

@@enryu7886 no it's an inazuman ship. Check "A Lonely Place" inside Elynas

[@HashiNuke]

I'm pretty sure the ship you were referring to is the Sponsian, the very ship Basil Elton used to kill the Great Beast. One half of the wreck lies ashore while the other half is inside Elynas.

[@freshlymemed5680]

I absolutely loved the Melusine world quest. Rhinedottir is such an awful mom :(

[@Rafael57YT]

In the Hexenzirkel cutscene, we can see that she appears to have doll hands. Maybe she's a mechanical being without the concept of human empathy?

[@Rafael57YT]

(and emotions too)

[@piyushverma7534]

How's she an awful mom exactly? Like i definitely know that she's an awful person for bringing these abyssal creatures into existence but not much on the mom front.

[@carolineribeiro9063]

​@@piyushverma7534I guess that goes hand-in-hand with being an awful person. She created those beings and, by the looks of it, didn't take good care of them at all.

[@KatsuImagitian]

@@piyushverma7534 Say that to Prototype Albedo (AKA: Subject 2) who from his accounts stated that Gold pretty much threw away all of her failed children into Durin's stomach. Even Albedo was essentially left with the only purpose of completing some vague mission. If anything Gold's quite the neglectful and sociopathic type in terms of motherhood.

[@Sesquipedalian044]

At this point, I'm hoping Rene/Alain is the real Sandrone and their consciousness is in the "Ruin Guard" meka, with the girl the robot holds being a puppet

[@spieds9994]

Actually, the whole thing with Alice in Wonderland reminded me of a thought during the world quests: What if Sandrone (specifically girl) is actually Mary-Ann. 1. With connection to Alice in Wonderland, Marry-Ann is the one who in the role of Alice during the quests, and if in the story Alice interrupted Knave's trial, i wonder if Sandrone could do the same in Genshin, those connecting her more to Alice/Mary-Ann. 2. For why Mary-Ann? Well, we technically saw 3 versions (albeit not 1:1) of Mary-Ann in the quests, yet it's weird that Alain, her grieving brother, didn't create something (at least from what we know in the quests). But if Sandrone is supposed to be Mary-Ann, or based on her at least, that would explain where he channeled all his grieving and why he was locked in his studies all the time. We also know that Alain was a bit obsessed with machines, and did even work with Khaenri'ahn self-repair Ruin Grader, so it's quite possible for him to create the Robo-butler guy. And on topic of that guy, if Sandrone is supposed to be Mary-Ann, i think the guy could be made in image of Alain, Alain creating a robo version of himself to protect the robo version of his sister even when he will die from the old age. And this could kinda explain Sandrone's mania with machines - she just got it from her creator/brother. A lot of people at the time complained about Alain's obsession with machines too, after all. Alternatively, the robo guy could be a new version of Seymour, original guardian of Mary-Ann so to speak, but i think Alain version is better.

[@MrGshinobi]

holy crap that would be an amazing twist

[@marfaleon7025]

@@spieds9994Childe mentioning that Sandrone looks at him weirdly: oh crap

[@piyushverma7534]

That would be actually crazy, from world changing geniuses to a portable robot chair.

[@iosis9324]

I think this theory is stupid, maybe if it was an ordinary anime it would be possible, but this is gacha. A dressed Ruin Guard DEFINITELY not be the number seven harbinger, but a girl with an interesting design with a playable model will be, this ruin guard most likely means nothing in principle and was shown together with Sandrone just to show her as the inventor of robots and that she relies on them.

[@Urbanganz]

On your Theory about Hilichurls attacking Traveler because they see everything different. That one Book Melusine (forgot the name) mentioned, the Traveler looks like a Monster that can eat the world or something.

[@Infelious]

The traveller is a world devouring monster and Paimon is a balloon with a string that reaches into the sky.

[@sneakretster]

@@Infelious a rainbow balloon in particular, I feel the distinction is important because of the separate implications it could make

[@JohnCivor]

​@@sneakretsteryeah this supports the theory that paimon is the MC's vision or gnosis shes the one who channels the element on the traveler when they acquired the elements on the statue (hence the rainbow) and also why the 2 paimon card are the omni element on the tcg the dice that can transform into any element.

[@vanessachowjiaying4423]

​@@Infeliousthe idea of the balloon attached with a string might be akin to an Ether Anchor in Genshin's parent story Honkai. In Honkai, Ether Anchors tethers and holds a bubble universe together to maintain the form and halt it from sinking into the Sea of Quanta, but for a limited time.

[@TheLogicMouse]

@@JohnCivor That completely fits with the fact that all MC's elemental skill and elemental burst descriptions are variations of "You and Paimon examined this" or "You and Paimon discussed that" to find the secrets of each element

[@svahn1]

47:30 another thing that suggests Furina might be on the weaker side (for an archon at least) is because the people of Fontaine don't seem to worship her. They treat her more like a celebrity/royalty. For example in the current event with the toy stores some of the characters openly joke about Furina not being capable enough to be a judge, and when Paimon wonders if they can really speak about their archon that way they just laugh it off saying that "Lady Furina loves those kinds of jokes". Which, knowing how insecure she really is, seems very unlikely.

[@spicavindem]

The word "chou" in French is also an adjective that means "cute", like : "Tu es chou" = "you're cute", so Petit Chou could also mean "Little Cutie". At least that's how I understood it the first time I saw his name ^^ Thanks a lot for another great video Ashikai 😍

[@danielm5535]

It’s most literally “cabbage”, but it is such an ingrained slang term of endearment that it’s basically interchangeable with “cutie” or “darling”. Mon chou-chou! = (My cabbage-cabbage?) My darling!

[@spicavindem]

@@danielm5535 Agreed, although "chouette" firstly means "owl", but I got your point 😄

[@capriciaelcid4743]

@@danielm5535 Sorry but I must correct you : " petit chou " refers to cream puff, not cabbage. Cream puff are chubby so here in some sort we compare someone’s to something chubby because for exemple round cheeks are cute. Children are cute so we call them "petit chou" (Petit Chou is a child in the quest and his bird form is very round and chubby). For adults it's either a cute surname between friends or family members or a mean term used to make fun of someone who spreads his (so-called) misfortunes "oh pauvre petit chou" = "my poor dear". XD A "chouchou" is the favorite person for someone (like the favorite studet of a teacher) and it's not a compliment ad we call them "fayot" (it the word for "bean" too in French, but the equivalent in English is "crawler"). Chouchou is also a scrunchie. Nothing to do with a cabbage in fact. ^^

[@thomxxx]

Not to forget that Lisa's "Cutie" literally translates to "Petit Chou" in French localization. At some point in the quest I was wondering if Lisa was getting involved lol

[@TammyTwilightRose]

thinking about how the melusines see things differently and how maybe the rifthounds and hilichurls may see us/things differently made me think of a world quest where we help a melusine finding a ghost ship and at the end, we end up fighting rifthounds. but afterwards Paimon asks us if we're ok since she saw us frantically attacking slimes even tho we saw rifthounds

[@mettaursp309]

I had a crackhead theory idea come to mind along these lines while watching the video too. So there's the Melusines' clear ties to abyssal stuff, and they see Teyvat through a different lens. It appears to be a sorta weird hybrid lens though because they see both Teyvat native stuff and stuff born from the abyss and Elynas as cute so I don't think it's quite a pure abyssal lens. During the Caribert quest we saw Caribert saw Teyvat normally, but he had a freak out once he realized he was a monster, and an even bigger freak out once he took off the mask. He was also unique among hilichurls, being the only one we saw that had remaining human consciousness. So what if he was seeing Teyvat through one perspective, but the moment he took off his mask his perspective was shifted and he was horrified? Or more like he was wearing a blindfold and the horrific view was revealed to him. What's more is we see how abyssal energy of various kinds mutates, transforms, infects, distorts, taints, or otherwise alters Teyvat stuff. We've also been introduced to forbidden knowledge that drove people crazy. What if forbidden knowledge drove people crazy by shifting their perspective to be more in line with the abyss's and peoples' minds can't comprehend, fathom, or cope with it so they break? This lines up with that horror movie analogy from the video of people in a decrepit place seeing a vision of food and eating it, only to find it is filth and rot. It also lines up with what Nahida said about waking sleep walkers & why she couldn't tell us about the samsara and we had to figure it out ourselves. Being exposed to abyssal energy & having your perspective shifted so suddenly and violently must be very jarring and scarring. It also lines up with the theory about Teyvat being (at least) 2 realities superimposed on one another, and only those who can see from a specific perspective (Melusines, Lectors/Heralds?) can see one reality or another. The superimposed reality theory can also tie in with the sky is fake, Teyvat is upside down, abyss is the real Teyvat, and Teyvat is a samsara type of theories and it works especially well when taking into account the shifted perspective idea. Things get really interesting once you take into account the twin. The twin in We Will Be Reunited tells us to find the truth of this world, so maybe they're already seeing it from that shifted perspective. But there's even weirder things about the twin: we know that Irminsul for some reason thinks they're part of Teyvat and not a descender. If you look at the Sumeru samsara story we see that Dunyarzad had a fake representation of her within the dream to keep up appearances & consistency for the participants. What if the twin wasn't sent to Teyvat like the traveler was, and what we're seeing is a mere illusion or representation of the traveler, which would make them a much more natural part of Teyvat? I'm not so sure about that last point, but it's an interesting idea to entertain that could tie in a lose thread. However with the idea of them not being sent to Teyvat, but rather Teyvat's mirror/twin reality, we know they have abyssal connections already. We see them in a place with a red sky and red moon that appears to be Khaenri'ah during the cataclysm. We see several structures that are upside down that have been closely related to Khaenri'ahn/Abyss Order activities. We see multiple Khaenri'ahns with abyssal looking powers. Khaenri'ah is a part of Teyvat, but they were acting outside the purview of the gods so maybe they attempted to or managed to bridge the gap with the superimposed reality. It gets a lot harder to make logical connections at this point because contradictions start forming, but I feel like it'd be very revealing if/when a Melusine meets & comments on the twin or a Khaenri'ahn citizen. We also know that the apparent history of Teyvat can be altered through Irminsul so there's another potential connection point with the superimposed reality, Khaenri'ah's activities, the cataclysm, the Abyss Order, and the twin. There's also the connection with Fontaine's story revolving around sin, the upside down primordial water, the upside down fountain in the Chasm that soothes abyss related creatures, polar opposite of the melting of Fontainian citizens, and the Sinner who apparently predates even the Abyss Order. I'm kinda running out of gas here, but I wanted to get this hodgepodge of ideas out in case anyone could make heads or tails out of them and find some use or relevance in them.

[@miachanmlp7347]

At 22:35 during the Khvarena of Good and Evil, we fought an abyss Herald named Klingsor. He was a former human member of the order of skeptics (and a descender of Khaenri'ah) who was interested in the abyss and so he became a herald himself. So this isn't the first time this has happened.

[@Indian_gae_boii]

My thoughts exactly, although I was a little weirded out by the fact that jakobs abyssal form had the khanreah star on his chest despite him not being one or being part of the abyss order itself, maybe it's just because of a reused model but it kinda put me off

[@Indian_gae_boii]

@@annaairahala9462 yes thats what I was saying though...the star is the symbol of khanreah so how come jakob has it lmao 😂 he's not khanreahn nor is he part of the abyss which is founded and primarily constitutes of khanreans

[@BeatrizViana13]

Also very very quickly about Childe’s Whale. The first thing I thought about when he mentioned his dream where he was underwater and and saw a giant whale, was Kokomi’s Demo. In the beginning she is underwater and has a whale swimming above her, now I may be misremembering, but weren’t the people of Watatsumi Island initially from the Primordial Sea? She mentions in the trailer “our ancestors once dwelled in the dark ocean’s depths”. So perhaps that could be another way to prove that maybe Childe did dream about being in the primordial sea.

[@yuki97kira]

Hence how he could be claimed guilty. The primordial sea us "guilty" of dissolving people, childe is (or partially) a primordial sea

[@michaelfaria7364]

I was not expecting to like Neuvillette as much as I do. His character so far is just so well written and the mysteries tied in with him are so intriguing! And here I thought they couldn't write me character I like as much as I do Xiao. Jury is still out on that last statement .

[@ronavdaftary1252]

Me before the archon quest : that blue guy looks emo never gonna pull him Me after : why is he not here yetttttt Triple crown at the ready

[@sarahismyalias4672]

Exactly, I was expecting him to be cold and stoic but he turned out to be an awkward softie 🥺. I'm so excited for when he comes out.

[@MrGshinobi]

same! i tought he would be really serious and boring (cough cough alhaitham) but in reality he's a soft gentleman dragon sweetheart and i love him

[@drakensgreed2350]

What‘s also interesting in regards to Canotila and her „Melusine Opposite Vision“ is her description of traveller and Paimon. „A beast that could devour the world in a single bite“ could be „a hero that will save the world through countless battles“, whereas „a rainbow balloon with its string reaching past the sky“ might end up being „something mighty and colorless, with roots deeper than the abyss“.

[@ShwethankPoojary]

Okay this is seriously interesting

[@Naokarma]

Surprised how the whole "Balloon with its string reaching past the sky" wasn't mentioned, especially with the parallels to the opening with Paimon being called a balloon to begin with. It strongly suggests that Paimon has direct ties to Celestia, while still treating her as insignificant in scale.

[@Indian_gae_boii]

​@@Naokarma I think "reaching past the sky" highly suggests she is from beyond this world as well, it's just that she was present during a samsara reset and thus catalogued into the irminsul and hence it can affect her memories, just like how our sister is considered part of this world and not us despite us clearly knowing that's not true. I personally believe she is the primordial one, and she became tiny like Nahida or guoba after using a lot of power

[@svahn1]

I really appreciate the summary of the Narzissenkruz and the history of the orphans. I had picked up much of the info before but having it put together like this really helps.

[@_Nyxus_]

Same. I have a ton of issues reading long dialogue, especially when there's a lot of odd words, so I lost complete focus on this quest. I love it when lore readers put everything together into something more manageable. I feel like it'd be easier to read the dialogue if the background of it was more opaque instead of transparent, I get so distracted by everything behind the white text.

[@deedlefake]

Hmmm... I didn't think of it until you mentioned it, but the fact that the Water of the Primordial Sea can hold the memories of people who are dissolved in it kind of makes me think of the leylines, which in turn makes me think of Irminsul. If the waters and the world tree are related, then maybe the water is the water that Irminsul drinks. Water that dissolves stuff and a tree that drinks it... That sounds an _awful_ lot like the Sea of Quanta and the Imaginary Tree. Maybe it's just a repeated theme, but maybe it's not. I've actually been wondering about the idea that people see the world completely differently in Genshin for a while. I'm surprised you didn't mention Gnosticism there, unless I missed it, since the entire point of Gnosticism is that the entire world is an illusion that obscures the truth, and in Gnosticism's case that 'truth' is that people are actually just pieces of a single god who was split into multiple entities and trapped in the illusion without its memories. Oh, and the 'o' in Job is pronounced like the 'o' in 'code'.

[@Mont11037]

When you mentioned that in Gnosticism, people are all a part of a single god, it reminded me of something. I heard somewhere that "Genshin" means "original god", so it would be very interesting to see how this idea can be implemented.

[@johnnybetmansour6332]

Perhaps that’s another explanation for all the masks, it blocks the false world from their sight.

[@iosis9324]

​@@Mont11037God of origins is a direct translation of this word from hieroglyphs, but we know the real meaning in lore, Genshin is Allogen, that is, Vision holder.

[@whystaroth]

There's this thing that is bothering me about Furina's tears and about the oceanids being created from tears that immediately takes me to the name of Hoyoverse's game Tears of Themis, which revolves around justice and trials, and I don't have to say who Themis is. I've searched the meaning of this name lots of times before Fontaine having no actual answer for it but now I kinda wonder if the 'tears' relate directly to the tears of the former or current archon. Another curious thing about Tears of Themis that is worth mentioning is that is has a challenge named Trials of Themis in which sometimes you have to answer a question, like a quiz. In this trial there's a question that basically repeats itself "Who's the greek goddess of the Moon?" and "Who's the goddess of the moon in greek mythology?", now although they are the same question asked in different ways the answers are different. In one you have to Answer "Selene" and in another you have to answer "Themis". I've always thought that this was way too specific of a question to be just a coincidence considering the strong connection of Hoyoverse with Moons, and I'm not trying to get anywhere with this or have a theory about it but having to answer that Themis, known mostly as the goddess of justice is the goddess of moon was always confusing to me. I wonder if the former hydro archon has something to do with the moon sisters. I don't know... I just feel that this game will have some important tips now that we are in Fontaine.

[@aashishpraja6501]

I havent done the world quest yet but the part where you said about the abyss dogs thinking they are playing with us or hilichurls seeing us as monsters gave me literal chills. I would be thrilled if the story ever goes that way

[@billcosbee2057]

There's a good chance this idea holds water (no pun intended). A Melusine even mentions that the Traveler, in her eyes, seems like "a monster that can devour the world whole," or something around those lines. Given the fact that Melusines are born from an Abyssal dragon, who knows if they see things the same way Hilichurls do...

[@faizaholajide6913]

​@@billcosbee2057Also there is another melusine who says the color of the sun is black which is not a good thing

[@Indian_gae_boii]

It's highly likely the case, all abyssal creatures seem to see the world differently, durin, elynas and even canotolia saw a happy place with happy people instead of the reality (both durin and elynas thought they were being peaceful and joyful while in reality they were causing a lot of harm) and canotolia herself saw ab abyss dog as a normal dog and even played with it and the abyss dog didn't harm canotolia....

[@Indian_gae_boii]

​@@faizaholajide6913 which one? I don't think melusines see the world completely differently otherwise they would not have been so well intigrated to Fontaine society, I think they have very specific things they perceive differently and this difference is at its peak when In the abyss (like how canotolia saw something completely different to what we saw)

[@faizaholajide6913]

@@Indian_gae_boii i don't remeber the name but the melusine that said it was in melusa village

[@panman4459]

This whole quest: Anyone who’s slightly suspicious is 1. From Monstadt 2. That’s it

[@jadedpotato1574]

true to real life. germans suck (joke)

[@mauricioos2294]

I hope that one day we can get a Mondstadt archon quest just to prove and expand how sus the moon city is.

[@biazacha]

@@mauricioos2294 yep, lots of things about Mondstadt are hella sus: - the only Archon who goes into slumber - closest nation to a very accessible entry to the Abyss - for some reason the witches studying Irminsol, the Abyss and all of that tried to pick a fight with Venti and made a deal with him instead - Sumeru is obviously the closest nation to Khaenri’ah but Kaeya was left all the way up north - the only nation so far where the Fatui didn’t try to negotiate for the gnosis before going for violence - is where the first Ruin Guard ended up and we all know they had very specific orders to carry during the Cataclysm - despite they being all about freedom, they’re the nation that makes the best use of their Vision holders as military assets; besides Razor and Diona all of them are either a Knight, with the Church or a licensed Adventurer… meanwhile we have the other nations with cooks, musicians, butlers, reporters, etc.

[@bookswithike3256]

@@biazacha " the only nation so far where the Fatui didn’t try to negotiate for the gnosis before going for violence" We are given an explanation for that - but it's up to you whether or not we can take that at face value. (That being that Signora hates Venti and blames him for Rostram's death).

[@aichisendou6375]

@@biazacha honestly even then Razor is like half-knight bcs of who starts and accelerate his growth to begin with. also hes kind of area protector of Andrius "territory", so he does have some importance, just not to the nation directly/as a whole

[@Deepstab1]

In case of Arlechinno she looks crazy and twisted to me, like she cares deeply about her family and children, takes care of them and teach them how to survive in this World of lies, she expects them to be good, loyal, well behaved children and if they are not? Well they just made father extremely dissapointed

[@koteghe7600]

She looks like most sane harbringer

[@hatepineapples]

oh shes an asian parent

[@yblpy6042]

hmm... i think that's just how she outwardly portrays herself. but freminet's voiceline kinda implies a colder side to her, that he can only cry when he's in the sea because "father" doesn't like it. the other npc orphans from the house we have encountered all seem scared of her more than anything and yearn for a different life. the inazuma quest with lyudochka also hinted that some of the orphans in the house may be orphaned directly due to fatui activities, which is obviously evil.

[@GHOST-sw2ke]

@@yblpy6042 That whole plot in inazuma to orphan kids was not Arle's orders, they were completely from Efim " The Teacher". Additionaly you can find "Chitose" at the docks and she'll tell you she had captured one of Efim's subordinate's and "persuaded" them to give up info that basically that Arle was an orphan that killed the previous Knave and Efim broke away from the HotH with some unaware subordinates to pursue the previous Knaves objectives. So that type of plot is more of the previos Knave's M.O and not our current Knave's.

[@svahn1]

51:25 only slighty related but I seem to remember Elynas speaking about swinning through the cosmos with his siblings before he was given his body and name by "mother". I assume this means he was some form of formless abyss creature who was summoned and given form by Rhinedottir, and since he became a massive sea monster it made me think about the whole cosmic whale/leviathan thing

[@cova-.-5618]

I haven't watched the whole video, but I'm sure Lyney didn't know about the primordial water and the plan, because lynnette was in the box for most of the time, he wouldn't risk lynnette being that close to the primordial water or being crushed

[@anime-lk8kq]

This is the best argument I've seen so far

[@blueao2670]

Imagine if Sandrone is Mary-Ann tho, with Alain being a mechanical genius its not hard to think that he may have created a mechanical counterpart of his sister after she perished in the battle inside Elynas.

[@yairiscapellan4874]

Something that I would like to add to the topic of Fontain, the Prophecy and why people Dissolve in Water, is that in the Weapon Materials it is mentioned that Remus, after creating remuria and building his empire. This had a Chalice that transformed the water of the primordial sea into a kind of ichor that when consumed, gave the user the ability to remove their consciousness from the body and with it create Golems, which they used to attack the kingdom of dragons (which is mentioned in the new weapon from the forge) until they sealed the power of the Dragon King of the Depths. If we add to that that the Fontain Dwellers descend from the Remurians, then it makes sense that only the Fontain people would dissolve, since Remus created the Ichor using water from the primordial sea and as mentioned in the book of remuria, in the end the Primordial sea would take what belongs to it, dissolving everything.

[@pr0ntab]

Essentially the original sin was the hubris of Remus and it's like the solution to the problem of surviving apocalypses being revisited onto his people... very interesting

[@legendaryeiyuu]

Finally some nice summary of the lore, the world quests really drained my brain trying to piece things together. About Elynas/Durin seeing the world differently, wonder how Albedo sees everything? It'd be pretty cool if what he's actually seeing was a hellscape and he's really good hiding it lol(just my crack theory). Anyways, in some unrelated note, this has been living rent free in my head since the desert area was released, but why is the sky in the desert and now in Fontaine look more real compared to the other regions? The sky in Monds, Liyue, Inazuma and the jungle area in Sumeru all have the fake looking-mandala-patterned design if you look up, but the desert and Fontaine all have nice twinkling stars?

[@Lightstorm786]

That's really intersting! I never noticed the sky was different like that. Maybe the patterns exist over nations that still have their archon and thus Celestia's "protection" in the form of a fake sky? The desert technically doesnt have an Archon since Deshret was basically the god of that place and has been dead for a while. It makes for an interesting theory for Fontaine. Perhaps Celestia has abandoned that place to drown because the Hydro Archon never actually chose a replacement and stopped playing by their rules? There's been alot of people debating on if Neuvillette or Furina is the actual Archon because of their character designs, so maybe that debate has some merit and neither of them are an archon. I believe L'Oratrice has the gnosis so maybe the current archon is a robot O_O

[@saturn_lynx5910]

@@Lightstorm786 The idea that the gnosis is powering the L’Oratrice actually sounds like it could be true. Using a gnosis to power a powerful object isn’t new (Shouki no kami). Adding onto that, every archon looses their gnosis and in the process has to give up something that the gnosis helped them to do. For example, Zhongli being unable to create mora and just the baseline fact that the gnosis gives the archon more power. Linking this back to the fact that the gnosis could be powering the L’Oratrice now, if/when Focalor looses her/the hydro gnosis she may would have to give up on the Oratrice OR find a similar power source to allow it to run. However, it would be impossible to cease use of the L’Oratrice since it creates the nervy that powers Fontaine so the only other option would be to use a power source similar to the gnosis. In my opinion, this similar power source could range from visions to the raw power of a god but we’ve seen the consequences of someone loosing their vision. That’s the end of this but here’s food for though, When a normal person looses their vision they loose their ambition but what happens when an archon looses their gnosis, obviously there hasn’t been any current changes in the archons behavior what are the chances of something happening further down the line? -Apologies if this is confusing and slightly all over the place

[@ElinBlue]

On Albedo: I mean... he does eat spiders... On the different skies: I kinda figured it had something to do with the "northland" and "midland" things. When we defeat weekly bosses in Mondstadt, Liyue and Inazuma, we can gain "northlander" billets, whereas the weeklies in Sumeru gives us "midlander" billets. I noticed the differences in skies when we arrived in Sumeru, and thought that maybe this was because it's the "midland" type of night sky.

[@reizero246]

In Egeria era Neuvillete was not the judge, he got his current status 400 years ago, that was 100 years after Egeria's death, and after Focalors became an archon. Besides, Neuvillete at the finish of Act 2, he is pretty cold when he speaks about Egeria, to me he didn't know her, at least in his current life/reencarnation. The most possible scenario, was Furina who made him in the position he is now.

[@RenaDeles]

If you look at the description for the pipe sword it seems to actually talk about Neuvillette becoming Indux, and that is *before* the siege of Possoin went down. So no actually we have a pretty good timeline and it's he was appointed around the same time Furina became archon. It's just 100 years after that, 400 years before present time, that he brought the melusines to the Court of Fontaine.

[@reizero246]

@@RenaDeles all events described about Narzissen Institute are dated around 400 years ago, one record describes the older Iudex "Leon" is going to be replaced for a new one, that suggest Neuvillete has been Iudex for 400 years at max.

[@s.8462]

@@RenaDeles one of the melusine cops around town literally says he's been the Iudex for 400 years

[@spikeruth1674]

This is outside the context of the game, but in the latest Genshin VA Among Us collab Neuvillette's voice actor Ray Chase named himself in game as "not a dragon". He sees our theories and is definitely messing with us.

[@davidcarba7829]

The Ordo quest was by far the highlight of this region for me so far. Piecing together the notes from the research group studying abyss energy and Golds creations and finally entering the doomsday clock room, the handle moving signifying the travelers arrival speeding up events approaching the final minute, and then the cliffhanger.... I need more!

[@Arcanewhim]

The main reason I think Lillian was working as Lyney’s accomplice is that his motive doesn’t hold water. He designed his entire magic show including getting permission to add the tunnel under the stage and add a vent leading into the basement so that he could observe the oratrace for 1 minute during the show? What was stopping him from observing the oratrace while all this was under construction? And exactly what benefit can be gained from one minute with a machine that possibly isn’t even on? Wouldn’t it make sense for Lyney to have staged the accident in order to cause a trial to happen so that lillian can take notes on her observations of the oratrace in action? Also it makes zero sense for an organization that has been successfully dissolving people for 2 decades to decide to do it in such a public way. I do think Lyney was killing two birds with one stone, exposing the existence of primordial water while also collecting data on the oratrace. Also are we going to talk about how marcel got his hands on jacobs notes? Still think he probably had a lot of outside help and that his experiments are going to continue after his death.

[@Astrophel24]

What would the “killing two birds with one stone” be? getting rid of his coworker( that according to you wouldn’t be working with Vacher)? It makes far LESS sense if that’s what he was planning because he could’ve pressed charges against lillian for stealing and then had the opportunity to observe the oratrice. You ask how he could benefit from a one minute look at the oratrice and I ask why he couldn’t have just… charged someone who he knows is a thief. Constantly dissolving people into water will get you eventually found out. Especially since Vacher was dissolving his own underlings. It makes ZERO sense to do it in the way you say Lyney did. It’s a bizarre method and I refuse to believe it. What if he and lynette accidentally touched the primordial water? there was so much risk for THEM. Blowing their own cover of being fatui, publicly killing someone, getting the organization (who is supposedly trying to work against the prophecy) a bad rep. This would point to the fatui being the ones executing the prophecy and ngl if that’s what happens Im quitting genshin, so tired of this constant involvement of fatui in evil plots( gives us the other villains ffs! the sinner is right there! and the abyss order!!!!)

[@matthewedgerton5761]

Considering all of the connections and theories you raised in this video I now can't help but wonder if the Oratrice's Sentience is actually Egeria's leftover consciousness (in much the same way of Raiden's Makoto's realm of consciousness). Assuming: - Egeria is Furina's Bio-Mom and Neuvilette her Bio-Dad (possibly without Furina's knowledge of this) - The Oratrice is sentient and powered by a combination of the Gnosis and people's belief in Justice - Neuvilette is trying to raise or develop Furina to a point where she feels ready to properly embody the "God of Justice" Then my "timeline" would run something like this. - Furina was born to Egeria, but probably quite late, some time in the leadup to the cataclysm. Basically I presume she was quite young at the time of those events. - During the Cataclysm, Egeria died and Furina was suddenly thrust into the position of taking over as Archon from her mother FAR before she felt ready. Possibly also grief stricken over the death of her mother. She also receives the Gnosis. - Instead of assuming the role directly, Furina uses the Gnosis (and a fragment of Egeria's conscioussness) to construct a machine using Fontaine's mech-tech that is capable of serving as a pseudo-God of Justice in her place until she feels more ready. It takes people's belief in Justice that would normally be her worship and instead uses it to power the Oratrice and then after to produce Indemnitium. She does this because of a lack of belief in her own capability to step into the huge boots her mother filled. - Neuvilette acts as Chief Justice with the Oratrice serving as the final judge. This is supposed to be a temporary system until Furina is "ready" to retire the Oratrice and take over its role as the absolute embodiment of "Justice" - but a combination of the Oratrice's 100% success rate, the mounting economic dependence on Indemnitium, the fact that "mom can do it better anyway" through the Oratrice and Furina's complete inability to get people to see her as anything more than a whacky celebrity rather than a serious and righteous bastion of absolute justice only serves to compound her insecurities over the years. The longer Fontaine goes with her being completely superflous the LESS prepared Furina feels - especially because she would have compounding guilt over not doing her job & feeling like a complete failure not only to her people, but also to her mother. Thus her desperation to prove herself worthy/equal to the other Archons by 1-up-ing the Traveller - a desperate ploy to convince herself that she's ready and/or "enough" as is. I haven't really thought through how this would relate to the Water Dissolving prophecy, but I find it an emotionally compelling narrative and it would be interesting to get to have a "conversation" with "Egeria" later in the Fontaine story via interacting with the Oratrice.

[@mkb7241]

Thank you for this video! Your theories are really engrossing and well put together. I would also like to add a little bit of info to the Snegurochka you mentioned while talking about possible meaning of Childe’s whale imagery. Snegurochka is a character of Russian fairy tales and is an essential part of the New Year celebration customs, especially for kids. Commonly, she is depicted as a girl made of snow who accompanies Ded Moroz (Slavic mythological being who has slight similarity to Santa Claus, both are grandpas with winter-related powers) as his granddaughter and helper. What is interesting is the fact that there exists a play by Russian author Aleksandr Ostrovsky called "The Snow Maiden". According to it (spoiler alert) Snegurochka passed away after discovering the feeling of love which burned too brightly and intensely for her snow body to endure. Considering the lore of Shivada Jade Gemstone, the image of Snegurochka might be connected to the Tsaritsa and Ded Moroz might be a previous Cryo archon. It also reminded me of the description of the Tsaritsa by Dainslief, indicating that she is indeed connected to the concept of love. Don’t know how relevant this info might be, it just was the first thing that came to my mind when you mentioned Snegurochka :)

[@JohnCivor]

Absolute banger of a video.. 50 mins of Fontaine lore is such a treat. The only thing that i thought you were going to mention is about paimon and the traveler on the eyes of the melusine.. but i think it's a minor nudge for the future lore of our MC's.. and it's understandable that it didn't make the cut for this one.

[@vivinadicassa4427]

Thought the same about Furina. Expecially when she says "DON'T LOOK AT ME" (or don't stare), it's the peak of insecurity. "Don't look at me, because if you do, you're paying attention to me, and if you pay attention to me, you might notice I'm weak and I can't get anything done". Can't wait to see her character arc.

[@CapriciousRhapsody]

Ashikai just yoinked the abandoned Ordo hideaway as her new secret study lol

[@kinokochouchou]

it looks too cool not to use it

[@TheAkrillion]

Their storywriting capabilities definitely improved with The Chasm and beyond. I can't WAIT for 4.1!

[@spytonio]

Been waiting for this video essentially since the first day of 4.0. I've been so invested in everything that revolves around the Narzissenkreuz and was really looking forward to your takes on it, the Ordo, Remuria and all these wild theories involving Fontaine. Released this just in time, going to have fun watching this just before Childe's banner. Thanks for the work you do! Post-video: Oh god, I never actually knew that you can hear Furina's voice under the Fountain of Lucine, I saw some post about it but never looked into it, that's huge and completely new. Also, never thought about the difference in perspective about the dragon in the Nymph's Dream set as being literal, I took it as "everyone is a villain in someone else's story", but it makes sense given the reveal in The Book of Esoteric Revelations about melusines seeing things radically different and connected to Durin, it really makes you think about who is actually the hero and who is the villain from an objective viewpoint. Food for thought. Consumed almost all content in this version and waiting expectantly for new lore reveals. I actually expect that 4.2 will be the lore heavy update, but let's see. Now, hoping I get Childe in half an hour on his banner. Great video as always and looking forward to more 😄

[@tartnouveau3652]

I wonder if abyssal corruption effects how something views the world? I’m just wondering if Durin and Elynas suffered from it and that’s why they viewed violence as beautiful, and Childe is also suffering from it, because he seems to have a similar perspective, and we know he’s been to the abyss, and now he’s having issues with his vision. Maybe the Melusine’s are not violent but still have a different perspective because they’re born from something affected by it. I just think it’s interesting that the games story is again bringing up a different perspective that’s almost a gleeful passion for violence, and also Childe is popping up in the Fontaine story. But maybe I’m reaching.

[@DelilaDabbles]

i had to pause and process a few times because my mind was actually blown by your theories! Love the one about Kaeyas eye, that shook me to my core a little. 😂

[@inuXkikyo]

Excited for your analysis, Ashikai! I really think your idea on a missing Harbinger was correct, especially after Salsa saying she’s number 0 since she found the little group w Paimon and Traveler. Small detail, but Hoyo loves doing that

[@trappedfan5206]

I was visiting your KZbin channel everyday waiting for this video! Thank you so much, you help people struggling to piece lore together (such as myself) to keep up.

[@VictorIV0310]

I don’t think Lyney’s being trained to be a Fatui Harbinger, more like being groomed to be the next “Father” of the House of the Hearth.

[@supayambaek]

Lmao, we’re talking about raising child soldiers here. Is there any difference between the two?

[@s.8462]

@@supayambaek In his character info about getting his vision, it mentions him asking Arleccino for a delusion because Lynette receives her vision first and he wants to be able to partner with her for missions again, and Arleccino slams him into a wall to give him a reality check about what receiving a delusion means. If she wanted him to be a full blown fatui, wouldn't she have just given him what he asked for right then? He also literally says he knows she wants him to be her successor.

[@MrGshinobi]

The explanation of how Lyney doesn't lie but he twists the truth to make it seem like a lie really reminded me of the character Kokichi Ouma from Danganronpa v3, and then i realized that Lyney and Kokichi have the same japanese VA and now i have to applaud HYV for making that connection canon.

[@antoinelelong1324]

Petit Chou is more likely to be a pastry name than the very litteral translation "little cabage". Choux are a very simple basis in pastry, they are like a bubble of dough that you can fill with cream, ice cream... they are the basis of many pastries such as religieuses, éclairs, pièces montées... So yeah when going though the quest petit chou was never about cabages to me although i could be wrong.

[@svahn1]

If the Oratrice is sentient and you are right about it recognizing "sin", I wonder if at the end of the archon quest when we get our typical QnA session with important characters we can ask it about the "Sinner" from Caribert.

[@idmss2663]

bot

[@sarahsweeney18]

I agree about there being a third harbinger. If you actually reflect back to the other regions, there has always been more than one harbinger brought up or present. In Monstadt, Signora, Dottore and Scaramouche( from an event) are mentioned if the manga counts in Dottore's case. In Liyue, we get Tartaglia, Signora, and Dottore( Dottore is running the robot factory in Childe quest but isn't present). In Inazuma, we get Scaramouche, Signora, Childe( from an event), and Arrlechino( mentioned in a quest. In Sumeru, we get Dottore, Scaramouche, and Arrechino (mentioned). There really is a pattern of at least three harbingers being present or mentioned.

[@Indian_gae_boii]

when i entered that unkown place i physically gasped when i saw that upside down city fountain from the chasm,

[@viafox90]

All I can say is THANK YOU!!! I have only about 20-30 mins a day to play genshin and I had to aggressively skip through SO much dialogue. I lost so much and felt rather guilty knowing that genshin has so many layers and amazing lore to offer. Your videos allow me to enjoy the game fully- thank you again and keep up the excellent work!❤

[@darkis1454]

I genuinely in awe with your videos! They help me to study english more deep and also give me what i want from genshin - a STORY, a really good and captivating story which i couldn't understand even when i finished all necessary quests. Thank you for your work)

[@Nightshade860]

You mentioned the fountain from the chasm as being primordial sea water. I find the implications of that very interesting and I hope you address them in some video cause like, The water from primordial sea is supposed to dissolve people from Fontaine based on some sort of unknown sin But the people called the sinners, the people that Celestia cursed during the Catalysm, Hilichurl, Dain and all found peace due to the waters of the fountain and tried to cleanse the curse.

[@name2376]

Oh my god I had to pace around my room for this one. At the end of Act II I believe Neuvillette said something about how the Primordial Sea originally gave life, and that it's strange that it now takes life/dissolves people. Since the Chasm has some weird time stuff, with the immortality curses, I wouldn't be surprised if the Primordial Sea stayed in its 'giving life' state, instead of dissolving people. In turn, that would possibly make it so that Khaenri'ahns who are in contact with the Sea are 'given life' in a way that relieves the pain of the immortality curse. Insane.

[@Nightshade860]

@@name2376 That is interesting. I admit I was more focused on how whatever the khaenrians were punished for may not be a sin though that have done harmful things since or if the definition of a sin in genshin is something different to colloquial meanings irl. Though it being preserved in stasis on its life giving state is also a good theory.

[@SleepyKurisu]

lmao Ashikai worried about pronouncing things from the world quests wrong but got Navia and Vacher wrong (Just thought this was a lil funny) I enjoyed this video it brought up some things that I completely overlooked and forgot about during the quest like Childe's "It" possibly being why he was judged guilty and some plot holes that don't make sense I also enjoyed the world quests they are kind of opposite of Jehts second world quest as in we are investigating a organization and their people to learn a truth while in Jehts quest we were being manipulated by our now previous enemies who were obsessed with an organization and their journey

[@legendaryswordsman653]

I loved how all those world quests connected up and I look forward to follow up quests in future patches. Should have livestream 4.1 around sept 15th so I'm pumped

[@agent6bell]

Thank you, the Ann, Narzissenkreuz world quest had so much info dump i really just gave up at processing it so thank you on explaining it

[@narwhalzipan3785]

Rhindottir created these beings like Durin and Elynas that perceived the world in a completely different way from the rest of Teyvat... and her final mission for Albedo was to 'find the truth of this world' What was she looking for? She must have caught onto something - she probably found out about the false sky or maybe even more, but realized she couldn't see the truth herself... so she sought to make something that could.

[@Richinnameonly]

Perfect timing I needed something to watch while I clean the bathroom. Not that that is related in any way, but I'm always excited to see a new video from you, and it was an easy choice what to watch.

[@defiantmars9910]

Fontaine has been shaping up to be an incredibly interesting region. I am sooooo eager to get more information on the former Hydro Archon as the succession of Archons has been an increasingly key point to the narrative and state of the regions post Cataclysm. Venti and Zhongli are the original Archons of their regions. Ei was Makoto's twin and shadow. Off the top of my head, Ei took over without too much transition culturally speaking. Nahida is effectively a cloned tree; a new organism made from the same basis as Rhukkadevata (Irminsul) and we saw how that impacted Sumeru. Given what we know of Oceanids, I'm leaning towards the notion that Furina is a part of Egeria that she split off from herself or something in that vein. Lastly, (since I got no idea where they want to take the Tsaritsa), I am wondering if Murata reincarnates over and over again. This is based solely on the chapter title for Natlan. Super excited to see what Neuvillete's deal is and his history with Egeria.

[@semsclassic1750]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet in the comments is Mary-Ann's very obvious reference to the French Marianne, who is an allegorical figure for freedom and the Republic, and whose roots and origins in french culture are directly linked to the the declaration of human rights and revolutionary theories of monarchs serving the people (not the other way around) that are one of the foundation that ignited the french revolution. This name was also used by republican secret societies who were against Bonaparte's coup d'état during the 2nd republic. I highly suggest looking into her as a concept and wondering over the potential this implies for Mary-Ann's role in the future of Fontaine !

[@sinner3412]

So glad you picked apart furina's character cause way too many people are caught up on the "bratty archon" act and it's an incredible disservice to the character

[@Salvageskate1]

Ashikai with another banger to get me through my morning at work. I’ve just been wandering around Fontaine staring at all the oddities trying to piece things together

[@Razekiel]

I also think Furina is Nutella's kid with a previous Archon. Nice you bring up the consort thing. Besides the father-daughter dynamic they have, there's also her heterochromia; In anime fantasy logic, heterochromia is often used when a character is half something, and half something else. If this theory comes up correct - I've been pondering on it since day 1 of 4.0 - That would make Furina the first known Half-Archon, Half-Dragon thing. At least to the audience; if this theory is true. My question is, if true; does she know? Or is Nutella keeping it a secret from her as well, for her own protection. A half-archon, half-dragon child might seem more of a threat to Celestia as far as story tropes go.

[@kaitlyncall5995]

Waiittttt that could make sense

[@yuki97kira]

N..nutella...

[@twelfthharbinger3017]

I’m sorry you have me cracking up at nutella 😂 made my day honestly

[@hritwikranjan2198]

OH MY GOOD LORD, I WAS NOT EXPECTING A 52 MINUTE VIDEO OF ALL THINGS. BEST DAY EVER!

[@noemus5000]

Okay WHAT IF Jacob and René were related to Khaenri'ah, and WHAT IF, just like only the people of Fontaine can dissolve, the people with Khaenri'ah blood can withstand the powers of the Abyss

[@mintsugas]

Ashikai carrying the lore theorists community on her back 🔥

[@shroomboar3688]

after reading narzissenkreuz notes i think vacher was trying to recreate jacob's attempts to bring back carter who had been turned into a dark puddle, he mentioned that he had found their studies

[@readerofalltrades]

Fontaine took Teyvat's grayness and increased it tenfold. A thing I noticed and someone correct me if I am wrong. Unlike the other archons Furina's hair seems to glow constantly? Which usually occurs when the archons are using their power. So is Furina constantly powering something? It could be she's using her powers to keep the city elevated to mitigate the floods. This entire chain of thoughts can go a long way connecting a lot of things. Interested to see what future versions hold

[@erikboncoref.7020]

Excellent video as always! Thanks for this great recap! On 36:15 there's another interesting detail, specifically about why using Alice in Wonderland's plotline for the judgment: it's actually fitting for Neuvillette and Furina to be the King and Queen of Hearts (respectively) because, in the French Card Deck, the Hearts are a "version" of the Tarot Deck's Cups, which are related to the element of Water

[@XEvilFoxX]

New head canon, Neuvillette is the strongest Sea Otter in Teyvat. He integrated himself into a society to find safety for the Melusine xD

[@miraclexyz]

Very informative lore video. I watched it without skipping one second. Thanks for the content and keep up the great work!

[@SebastianRayner]

I literally screamed when I read the enigmatic page that had the tree of life on it EXACTLY as you predicted

[@ClubSandwiches]

No real insights or comments, but just wanted to say I found this video so entertaining and helped to clarify the world quests I really enjoyed but wasn't able to make total sense of. Great work Ashikai.

[@reveriesend4668]

25:19 I originally thought like this, until I reread a bunch of the logs in the Institute of Natural Philosophy and I now think that it's actually Alain who first discovered this, since his topic of research since child, before even he was forced to solve the energy crisis, was a "thinking machine". Seymour was a failed first prototype. Alain prob knew this and feared it. While Rene just continued as he was trying to save Carter, and then Fontaine. Rene even potentially left Alain his research notes, which only 1 parchment left: the scratched parchment at the top of the library in the "meditation realm".

[@hermdude]

I didn't notice there's a hidden quest with Canotila until you pointed it out, and as I'm going through the quest, it seems that Saya no Uta and Kara no Kyoukai references are running deep in this seemingly innocuous quest.

[@dheartflame]

I'll have to watch this video again, so much information that I didn't pick up playing the quests 😮, it's gonna take a while to sink in

[@yairiscapellan4874]

About Neuvillette and Egeria. They don't seem to have ever met, because in Fontain's Ascension Artifacts, everything that happened in the era of Egeria and Remuria is mentioned, and the Dragon that appears there is the Sovereign Hydro Original. Neuvillette appears 400 years later (after Egeria's death and Furina's Rise). Also, keep in mind that he doesn't seem to understand human emotions, which is very strange, since it indicates that he has barely had contact with people. I think it was Furina who in one of her trips through Teyvat (looking for answers to stop the prophecy) met Neuvillette and brought him to Fontain because she saw in him a figure of Authority.

[@paulholleger8538]

On empty Harbinger seats: I heard a good theory that the seats and ranks might actually function as a "canary in a coal mine" against irmunsil tampering. We saw in Scaramouche that the seat was left open for apparently hundreds of years after he deleted himself. Irmunsil was able to erase Scaramouche and his identities, but Scaramouche never erased his seat from Irmunsil, so it still exists. So does Mystery Harbinger's seat. The other option is that the Mystery Harbinger is just a spy, so anonymity is crucial. A third option would be that the Mystery Harbinger got Signora'd before the Traveler ever even arrived in Teyvat.

[@Lukz243]

Wow, didn't I ever notice it was a one-hour long video. I was immersed! This convinced me to read the artifact descriptions more, since I might get more context from the world quests. And yeah, we need to see more of the harbingers in Fontaine

[@Senorgato029]

I do appreciate a well put together refresher course for the small important details

[@chiiakiiz]

you explain everything so well!! i played through the world quests but i was so confused it thought it was really interesting i just couldn’t really figure out what was going on this helps sm

[@Erlow]

I happened to have replayed the mondstadt quest not long before 4.0 and venti does in fact say that archons gain power through the belief of their people (he also says that having been away for so long made him the weakest of the 7, implying an archon needs to be physically present to absorb the belief energy) As for neuvillette I do believe he is the hydro dragon or its reincarnation, for one the rain thing but also the fact he explicitly says he tries to understand humans, indirectly stating he isn't one

[@Sophera01]

Somewhere around the 37:00 mark: What if Tartaglia is the one in the role of Alice, since he's the one falsely accused, put on trial, and threw a fit, and who also has another harbinger behind the scenes with a different motive (Arlecchino, sorry if I'm spelling her name incorrectly) who might actually end up having to bail him out with her plan OR who might end up getting accused later on, instead, which, in turn, might end up overturning his guilty accusation later on in favor of turning on her for some currently unknown reason. Other harbingers lurking about, stirring the pot, may also complicate matters, too, of course.

[@chocoblin5887]

u r really super underrated. the editing, the storytelling are just fantastic. wish more people came here to become genshin lore enlightened

[@aninterestinusername]

Surprised you didn’t mention how Canotila said she saw the traveler and paimon as a world destroying monster and a rainbow balloon with a string ascending to heaven.

[@thetempest7423]

never waited for a video soo much in my life, we have been graced by the aishikai lore again🗣🗣

[@dorothystar2]

I've been waiting for this video for a week!!! Thank you!

[@usalisa3656]

Really good video, I didn't have the impression to watch an hour long vid! Fontaine lore is so good, I'm loving the region. Can't wait for 4.1 to come

[@PaladinNay]

I really appreciate this analysis and putting together all the information from the various Fontaine world quests into "order" so it's easier to make sense of!

[@brellisimo-6610]

Your comparison of Neuvilette with an otter might be actually true; just take a look at his jumping-into-water animation 😮

[@TheLogicMouse]

I was so excited for your roundup on all this 4.0 lore, and you did not disappoint! Thanks so much for your hard work. On the subject of why people from Fontaine are set apart as sinners from all the rest of the people in Teyvat, I'm really surprised that none of the theorists I follow have suggested that it has anything to do with their Arche. When we were first introduced to the new mechanics in Fontaine, they mentioned that every Fontainian(?) has an Arche alignment, either Pneuma or Ousia, something nobody else but the Traveler has. And they're the same group of people who "are burdened with sin" and can be dissolved by the primordial waters. I have no idea what this actually means beyond that connection, but it seems like a really solid connection.

[@cetribottle]

Something I've not seen much commentary on is, despite the role of Fontainians' "sin" in the prophecy, the Hydro Ascension Gem's quote is "I must correct you. People here have no sins in the eyes of the gods." Another thought I've had is... what if the Oceanid fought in Ann's quest is the Narzissenkreuz Amalgamate Rene and Carter (and many others) became? The Adventure Team calls it the "Fell Dragon Narcissus," and Rene is portrayed as the Fell Dragon in the associated artifact set.

[@blackraen]

33:41 LOL! I remember playing through the quest and I thought, "Oooo... Ash is totally gonna use this as a set for sure."

[@ksmr2329]

Isn't it mentioned that Neuvillette became the Chief Justice early post Cataclysm? Honestly wouldn't be suprised if he never met Egeria

[@1swagevilregalallen479]

To be fair, this was taken from a random person’s perspective. He could’ve always been in fontaine but just decided to show himself after eegira death’s probably to greive or just prepare Furina behind the shadows, ( My opinion)

[@willyexp5394]

As someone who not play genshin anymore, the recap is appreciated 👍

[@MissusFail]

Been searching for this video for a while now! ITS HAPPENING. Can't wait to watch it

[@dina_solaire]

I cant wait for the video where you dive in completaly into the world quests im crazy with them

[@FuuonRai]

Azdaha was based on crocodile I believe. The developers did talk about his inspiration in a BTS's video on the main genshin channel: The Birth of a Dragon: A Behind the Scenes Look At the Creation of Azhdaha

[@theempresssophia3212]

“The internet doesn’t exist in tevat-the Akasha shut down!” This made me snort harder than it should have lmao

[@KatsuImagitian]

It's very interesting the concept of the Melusines. They're technically like Abyssal Creatures and have "unique" outlook on what normally people would consider dangerous or ominous depictions. Like Canotila seeing the vision of the Abyss as a garden and was interacting with the Rifthounds as normal dogs. Further implied by Elynas with their innocent concept of the world which in reality is actually quite destructive similar to Durin's delusions.

[@Joel-.-0]

Finally, I've been waiting for this video for ages. Thanks for blessing us again with your Lore knowledge and your mostly correct theories. Oh, great, Ashikai.