[4.3] What's the deal with Zhongli? - A Genshin Impact Theory

[@Ashikai]

**NOTES & CORRECTIONS** - Several people have pointed out that Rukkhadevata and Nabu Malikata also are referred to with the title of "God King." This is true, however, it's worth pointing out that King Deshret was said to have "shared his throne" with these two, allowing all three to possess the title - that's why they were called the three eternal companion gods. The line from Flowers of Paradise Lost (Amathyst Crown) is: "In an age where kings vied against one another for power, King Deshret allowed his throne to be shared with two others." This does not delegitimize their titles, strength or rank, it's just worth pointing out that this was a power SHARED, and the higher authority was relegated to Deshret. As an aside, the term "god-king" may not be the best term to use to refer to the grouping of Deshret, Zhongli, Decarabian and Remus, but it's what I've got. - In this vid, I said that Zhongli is the oldest character we know. That's not 100% true, obviously Dragons, Sustainer etc are much older, but he's the oldest person we know that has a number associated with their age (even if it's not his exact age). This makes him the baseline for a lot of timeline related stuff. - I also said that gold is created during a kilanova (2 neutron stars colliding). This is a relatively new (2017) discovery and scientists debate whether or not gold is ONLY formed during a kilanova or if it can be formed during other stellar events as well. Thanks to Astrofizzix for pointing this out!

[@BanjoGate]

Thanks for the stickied comment. I thought you were being shunned by The Algorithm, because I saw this vanish from my feed before my eyes!

[@K_Chaotic]

Hi Ashikai! I just have a little request?(anyone please)😅 Can I please get the link to the channel discord if possible(like if it not a Patreon benefit). I have spent a few hours looking for it. I would really like to swim in all the Zhongli lore Maria has compiled. Thank you if you see this!😊 also Happy Holidays 🎉!!!

[@IsabellaTK]

What’s the link for the discord server?

[@aderezo_]

Hi ashikai, you said that Zhongli is an adepti, but i remember that the definition of adeptus is an iluminated beast that form a contract with Rex Lapis to protect Liyue, so, the word itself is rather an status than a race... But the points is, is it right to call Zhongli an adeptus?

[@shadel.r.8147]

One more possible discrepancy: at approx. 14:40, you called Zhongli the only god-king to survive the Archon War. Assuming that all of the gnoses were granted at roughly the same time (end of the war), Deshret would have survived as well, as we know that he was offered a gnosis by Celestia. It’s also very possible that Remus survived to the end of the Archon war; it’s heavily implied that the city of Gurabad was founded after the Archon War, as Deshret founded it after Nabu Malikata’s death, and they had shared the “throne” (presumably of Archonhood) with Rukkhadevata during/at the end of the war. The civilization of Remuria was only established after Gurabad had risen and fallen, so I believe this places Remus’ reign after the Archon War as well.

[@pepita2437]

Also, one more strange thing to add. Zhongli's demo is titled: Zhongli the listener. Neuvillette's is the: Watcher in the deep.

[@paulskiye6930]

The big Brothers are watching Teyvat 😅

[@MJ-zq9zg]

we need to find the taster and the smeller

[@themessychef._.]

I'd love to think this is true but I believe zhongli is a celestial being as well idk I maybe stupid

[@Tenshi6Tantou6Rei]

@@MJ-zq9zg they might all be the taster with their extremely specific tastes for their beverages of choice

[@_Nyxus_]

Makes me wonder if there will be a "speaker." Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil kinda deal.

[@meepatmeep8626]

Imagine if zhongli is so old that instead of his birthday falling on new years hapazardly his birthday designates the new year.

[@Dead-idiot]

That would be hella cool

[@shadowpriest2574]

Unlikely as New years are determined by earth rotation and revolution.

[@ichigoichie369]

Truee, his birthday being 31st December really is interesting

[@MalachiteOW]

Me: There's no way she can fit an obligatory Deshret tangent in a Zhongli video Ashikai: Hold my Osmanthus wine.

[@partiallywhole]

honestly, what do you expect from a video about "god-kings"

[@skystudygirlera6414]

Lmaoo I'm genuinely impressed by that ability of hers

[@wiswc]

She's obsessed with him

[@yezus9583]

ITS ALWAYS HIM 😭😭

[@yuutoaudaciousmarch7761]

"Wait, it's all Deshret?" "Always has been"

[@Truck-kun11]

I hope that at some point we will have the opportunity to see what Zhongli was like during his time as Morax, since from what everyone says he was much more stubborn and violent than he is today.

[@nikumilotic1333]

Ahh yess and some childe shipper still couldn't acknowledge the fact that zhongli was not like this all the time And guizhang kinda guided him (memory of dust😭)

[@fat4eyes]

It would be funny if we find out Zhongli was like Itto.

[@forsenE]

⁠@@fat4eyesfunny? sure. lore? no wtf!?

[@danielehartmann2787]

Let's be honest: Based on how strong both his story quests are - we need a WHOLE GAME about Zhong Li.

[@lucasvhinever2817]

I mean, if the leaks are to be believed, the Anime is gonna be the Archon War so we gonna se Zhongli in all his glory pretty soon

[@Charaznable9258]

Chinese dragon, also known as the loong, long or lung has a special class system. Zhongli and Azhdaha are different type of long. Zhongli more like a Tianlong or Huanglong. Azhdaha more like a Fuzanglong or Chilong. Tianlong (天龍; 'heavenly dragon'), celestial dragon that guards heavenly palaces and pulls divine chariots; Shenlong (神龍; 'god dragon'), thunder god that controls the weather, appearance of a human head, dragon's body, and drum-like stomach. Fuzanglong (伏藏龍; 'hidden treasure dragon'), underworld guardian of precious metals and jewels, associated with volcanoes. Dilong (地龍; 'earth dragon'), controller of rivers and seas.

[@MB-tj7xh]

It's nuances like this that i miss with ashikai. No offense to her, she cant help it.

[@Elinvar396]

Fascinating

[@Yawnz2]

Shenlong like from DBZ....whoa

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

Given Azhdaha Chinese name, I am pretty sure he should be Shenlong and Dilong. Actually, in the context of Genshin he should be all except Tianglong maybe, unless you consider him being "Zhongli's pet". 🤔

[@moreamour2869]

This needs more likes!!!

[@Wolf-vy7et]

It would be good if they expanded on Decarabian's character, always was interested with old Mondstadt's lore

[@sisronweasley2074]

We'll prolly get that with the Mondstadt expansion. Storm terror lair isn't a complete map yet. 🤞🙏

[@OhItsNekoAgain]

We might still get underground ruins from old Mondstadt because I noticed after making a new account end explored Mondstadt again, there are a lot like unknown ruins that we don't know where they belong to properly and Mondstadt has a lot of potential for it.

[@TebbleTV]

I haven't read any of Decarabian's lore but, could he have been the previous anemo archon before Venti took the role?

[@Wolf-vy7et]

​@@TebbleTV Venti is the only anemo archon and has never been replaced since he won the Archon war in Mondstadt, for Decarabian we don't know where he came from like deshret Zhongli ect but we know that he was the god of storms and protected his people from Andrius's blizzards, it lasted until the people of old Mondstadt started to realise he was acting like a tyrant and that he took his people's freedom from them ( their perspective) Decarabian had poor connection with his people and they probably didn't even know that he locked them to protect them, that's also the reason why he had an human lover (Amos) to understand human's emotions better, after that Amos though their relation was toxic and she sided with the weak wind spirit (Venti) and the other people who started hating Decarabian, later Andrius, the people of old Mondstadt, Istaroth and Venti all attacked him, Decarabian was just a misunderstood god, venti probably knew, also Barbatos ascend later when Andrius commit suicide and he's the only god left in Mondstadt, now you know most of the story Also forgot to mention but he's either killed or sealed under the bottom of his tower, that's most likely why there is an out of bounds near the seal

[@shiroi7885]

The wind temple has that iron door that has stairs going down no nothing, one day they are probably going to put something there

[@Evillious_Oracle]

It's also worth noting how Neuvillette addresses all of the Archons thus far. While he'd address Venti, Ei, and Nahida as other canonical titles (God of Breeze and Hope was something Venti described his presence as a wind spirit in his quest, Narukami is another title for the Electro Archon, Lord of Verdure was a title used to describe the Dendro Archon alongside the God of Flowers and the Scarlet King) in his voiceline. But with Zhongli, he addresses him in a Latin name, Deus Auri, which is a title that does not appear in other places or texts in-game thus far.

[@lesalzman]

neuvillette refers to all the archons as their "god names" if that makes any sense. basically what they also were called before they became archons. "deus" meaning god, "auri" meaning gold. literally, "gold god". zhongli was the god of gold before he became the archon of geo. we also learned that orobashi fled because he could not defeat the narukami (ei and makoto) and the "golden god", whom we now know is zhongli. technically, neuvillette's naming system of the archons follow a pattern, but it would be interesting to dive deeper into zhongli's character by looking at her former name. but to sum it up, neuvillette really thinks the archons ain't shit.

[@indigoolantern5669]

​@@lesalzmanthe archons ain't shit cracked me up so much😂😂. Neuvilette be like ah these pesky files

[@nothmm8582]

Actually he has been called that once if i remember. Orobashi called him the "Golden God" which basically means Deus Auri.

[@sauce8148]

Deus Auri was mentioned quite a few times in the game already tho

[@reveriesend4668]

I love how Ashikai is slowly falling deeper and deeper into this hoyo-pun hell and "everything is a star" idea.

[@___..Blade..___]

Guys, have you noticed something, if you look at Zhongli's statue of the seven, and at the back of the throne he is sitting, you can see some symbols that look very similar to the symbols we find in King Dehsret's pyramid. I couldn't believe it when I first saw that.

[@sneakretster]

I mean, isn't it already weird enough that he's the only Archon statue that's specifically sitting in a throne to begin with? Iirc everyone else is just floating or standing in some way but Zhongli is sitting like a king on a throne 😐

[@Crusader050]

​​@@sneakretsterI'm fairly sure Nahida's statue has her sitting as well, although not in a throne but on a leaf.

[@somedragonbastard]

​@@Crusader050yeah shes on a leaf on hers, but idk why zhongli's just feels very different from that. Maybe because nahida's is a natural element as opposed to a crafted throne

[@deannerodriguez2208]

My take on the statue is the effects, and cubes...it would've been easy to look pass since Zhongli apparantly has affinity for square things (Even square cups by Cloud Retainer) if not for the fact that the Unknown God use cubes and similar cubes to the effects shown in the Geo Archon Statue when activated by the Traveller...

[@kannan07]

Also another intresting thing is that all other statues are in some form, worshiping the orbs, venti is holding it up,makoto is bowing her head,buer is resting onto it like in some religious paintings and egeria's a cross But zhongli is a cube,and he's holding onto it and sitting on a throne,like a ruler

[@spiderdude2099]

After watching so much of Ashikai’s videos, one thing I CONSTANTLY think about is how I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope someone at Hoyo is responsible for remembering all these lore crumbs. Like….PLEASE don’t forget about these crumbs and dangling threads.

[@starpeep5769]

Preach

[@HoneyDoll894]

so real.. after seeing what happened with the lore of Destiny.. I'm trying to not get my hopes up. (if you're curious, destiny basically retconned their cosmic creation myth into what basically seems like just religious self insert fiction, leaving us basically nothing about the cosmic gods which before this were at least partially explored)

[@huh3132]

Also let’s remember because of Hu Taos story quest we know that the only known gateway to the spirit realm is in Liyue

[@Electric_Bagpipes]

At this point I think Ashikai’s tinfoil hat needs an upgrade to a goldfoil hat. She’s definitely the god of crackpot theories that eventually prove to be true.

[@aryangonsalves8352]

any of her theories that were later confirmed????

[@guumidropu]

@@aryangonsalves8352her fontaine speculation, it was all correct except for that fact that she used egeria and not focalors.

[@meisstupid]

@@aryangonsalves8352her fontaine speculation. As much as I absolutely love Furina (even before 4.2) her theories that seemed like it was plucked straight from fake leaks eventually came true

[@imsleppy2196]

Heh, "gold"

[@culturedindividual8846]

5:15 i call natlan dragon is a phoenix and is the ziz. Phoenix are known for their immortality from constant resurrection from their ashes. With natlans archon quest being called "incandescent ode to resurrection" a phoenix as the dragon sovereign would be brilliant.

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

I think that might be Xbalanque and the final god king instead of Decarabian. I also think Murata will be Hunahpu possibly but she will not be a god king. Or it could be the other way around. I am not sure.

[@serenitysilvermoon]

@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks Could even be the god *queen*, as phoenixes in China are associated with the feminine and dragons the masculine. Maybe Murata is a reincarnation of the 'phoenix king'

[@Infelious]

They could be a Garuda since they have already referenced the Garuda in Honkai Impact.

[@serenitysilvermoon]

@@Infelious INB4 first Pyro Archon was Fu Hua

[@SaraBearRawr0312]

@@serenitysilvermoon Phoenix King?! Its Fire Lord Ozai! Quick, somebody find Aang!

[@cooprh]

I still think its strange zhongli says he has “dwelt” on this earth, and he “descended” onto it. Makes me think hes older than 6,000

[@lightefilit]

He is definitely older, considering he made a body for Azhdaha who is "older than mountains". 6000 doesn't even cut it 💀

[@teyvatz7169]

@@lightefilitcorrection he made azdaha two pairs of eye's. Azdaha already has a body of his own. The word of story teller is greatly exaggerated.

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

The oldest entities were the vishaps and sovereigns of the night sky, the moon sisters, Shades and Phanes, the oldest record we have for Teyvat right now is 6400 and Morax was described as being "young" around the events of 6000 years ago.

[@cooprh]

@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks Actually, It seems you forgot about the solar chariot. Which has some strange connections to Zhongli. Zhongli is also seen with god-king symbols. The only sun wukong refrence is in liyue as well, which is strabge. Zhongli also has an “old world constelation,” we know this because neuvillete also has a unmatching charecter story name to his constelation, while every other character (other than Zhongli) have matching story and constelation names. This would indicate he was here before celestia, and celestia gave him a new constelation.

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

@@cooprh I did not forget the solar chariot. I just didn't include it because it's not really indicative enough of anything imo. Allow me to elucidate: The Moon Sisters are stated to be older than Morax: "Long ago, three bright moons once hung high in the night sky. These three moons were sisters, their years numbering more than those of the Geo Archon and their year of birth predating the very bedrock upon which Liyue Harbor now rests." Note we never really get an indicator of the Solar Chariot's age and... Whilst I think Zhongli has serious connections to it, (I needn't explain his ties to the sun gods, yellow emperor, lin, xianzhou and Sun Wukong, I am sure you know it already,) I don't necessarily think that means he is the entity itself. Especially when we have other gods that also have potential connections: Amun, Remus, potentially Decarabian even. Not sure what you mean by old world constellation. From what I can see, his constellation mirrors him just like any archon or divine being. Neuvillette I am not sure about, I was under the impression that his constellation was fake. Personally, I think Zhongli is exactly about 6400 because his birthday 31/12 seems to mark the age of the human realm, the end of the old world.

[@sweetpeace345]

Imagine being a character that has been there since 1.0 and still being the most mysterious character in-game.

[@jonathan_byers_stan2416]

as a zhongli stan i see this as an absolute win

[@caribbeanstrawhat]

Kaeya, Lisa, & Varka are calling

[@Pre4xes_]

Traveler

[@-nery-]

With the "God Kings" coming from Liyue, Mondstadt, Sumeru and Fontaine, we are speaking about the nations closest to Celestia. A moonsister being displayed in Inazuma and two nations and moonsisters remaining on what's practically an outer orbit of Celestia and the theory about the moonsisters guarding Teyvat's borders... yeah, should I get myself a tin foiled hat?

[@-nery-]

when I try to draw what I practically just described on Teyvat's map while guessing that Snezhnaya is north of Fontaine and Natlan southwest of the map, I ended up with a symbol that was used in alchemy for the philosophers stone (a circle in a square in a triangle in a circle)? wut?

[@zellkan9657]

@@-nery-

[@alexprus7953]

Interesting idea

[@alexprus7953]

Interesting idea

[@wordsmith6154]

It's interesting that you mention the Jade Emperor and "sun brothers," because there's actually an interesting Chinese myth about that. The Jade Emperor had 10 sons and one day, they decided to become actual suns and started scorching the earth. The Emperor then had a skilled archer among the immortal gods of Heaven (this is actually the start of a myth about him and his wife) stop his sons, but not in the way he really wanted. He just wanted the archer to make his sons stop being suns and the archer, Hou Yi, aims his arrows at all but one sun, leaving only one of the Jade Emperor's sons to live as the one sun in the sky. Maybe there aren't ten in total in Genshin, but this makes your theory pretty plausible. As for Hou Yi, that story could possibly fit in with (since you mentioned the seele) the seele that married an outlander and the punishment they were given. As punishment for killing 9/10 of the Jade Emperor's sons, Hou Yi and his wife, Chang'E (who was also an immortal goddess) were stripped of their godhood and sent down to earth as mortals. They struggle with mortal life and Chang'E's mood in particular is bummed about the life she lost. So this sends Hou Yi on a quest into the mountains to find an elixir of immortality. There are two different endings, but they both play out similarly. In both endings, Hou Yi finds the elixir, but the effects are different. In one ending, the elixir can either make two people half-immortal or one person full immortal. Chang'E, upon hearing this on his return, drinks the whole thing herself in her own selfishness and since she can't return to heaven, she's banished to the moon. In the more popular ending, the elixir can only be used on one person and the couple both decide to hide the elixir and deal with the usage of it at a later date. During this time, they get used to their human lives only for an apprentice of Hou Yi to learn that they have the elixir. While Hou Yi is out hunting, the apprentice attacks Chang'E and demands that she give him the elixir. With the choice to rather give it to him and make him immortal or take it before he could, she drinks it in an act of self-sacrifice and becomes a full goddess again. She then chooses to go to the moon to be at the perfect distance between her husband and heaven. I've been told that the more popular version is what the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is celebrated for and is the reason why mooncakes exist because, supposedly, that was the offering her husband would leave out for her after she ascended to the moon. That story would mean, though, that the seele that married the mortal would have to be one of the moon sisters, possibly the one we see in the sky now.

[@paulskiye6930]

It is not jade Emperor's son. It is 三足金乌(three legged bird Jing Wu). They were sons of 羲和 (Xi He) and 帝俊 (Di Xun), they are the rulers of heavenly realm before the Jade King.

[@DataNotLost]

Interesting, those two version of Chang E and Hou Yi's story is quite different from the one I knew. For one, Hou Yi and Chang E supposedly was never an immortal but simply a skilled human Archer and a loving wife, and the elixir was gifted to him by the heavens as a reward for vanquishing the nine suns. Though the ending is just like the most popular one you described indeed, but instead of his apprentice that attacked Chang E, it was a group of bandits hired by some rich people in craving for immortality. Interesting how there are multiple interpretations of the same story out there

[@Tenshi6Tantou6Rei]

interesting how the one archon we know to have killed a god king, is Barbatos who became Venti and is an archer

[@wordsmith6154]

@paulskiye6930 Actually, the version I heard specifically name dropped the Jade Emperor of being the father of the ten unruly suns. However, stories do change over time and there's multiple versions of myths. There's always going to be a difference.

[@wordsmith6154]

@@DataNotLost There are definitely multiple interpretations. I've never heard a version where they were already mortal. Since things start out in oral tradition, there are bound to be multiple different accounts and translations of the same story with different contexts.

[@rajaryan-fe1oy]

This one was a long time coming, Zhongli is such an anomaly and honestly one of the more intriguing characters in the story right now, Hoyo basically told us through Ei that his story he far from over

[@evapunk333]

That whole bit at the end is sticking with me..."to pass it along to someone else.." With Zhongli seeing how special the Traveler is and how they have basically been conquering all the elements, seemingly in preparation to overthrow Celestia, it seems like it's us (The Traveler) that is supposed to inherit the throne of heaven..but not just that, also the earth (Teyvat) as well. But, I think we are meant to kinda bridge the gap and heal the divide between the heavens and the earth instead of becoming what the Primordial one was..which was a conqueror. There are some possible Christian parallels here too with The Traveler being almost Christ-like...it's got a lot of interesting implications and I'm kinda here to see all the ways that they can incorporate history and different cultures into this.

[@justinbailey1669]

Could absolutely be a "contract to end all contracts" :)

[@literallywho-y2f]

I do hope Mihoyo remembers that they've left these dangling plot threads in old regions someday. Even if we are going back to Liyue for Chenyu Vale it doesn't seem like it's going to be enormously relevant to anything... And then I would have to imagine it's onward to Petrichor for maybe some Erinnyes/Remus stuff and pre-Natlan. Go back to an old region for something other than a festival! Please!

[@jonathannigel8979]

@@thewanderingartists Wait is this canon event? xD

[@morax5015]

yeah they have left a huge amount of dangling stories from characters that I hope would be resolved before the game ends. I want to see if Lisa dies in the end, would Kaeya choose Khaenriah or would Albedo destroy mondstadt and many more..

[@pyrite2060]

noo leaks say chenyu vale could be lore heavy. its inhabitants moved there to be closer to celestia originally anyway

[@motemo8413]

a lot of people seem to assume that Khaenri'ah will be the 7th patch(7.X series) and it's logical to assume that way but some people forget that in the Travail trailer Khaenri'ah was "Act: (insert blurred text AKA ???)" so there might be an entire patch series or two between Sneznaya and Khaenri'ah which might explore the other regions again.

[@Jack_Ss]

The Chasm was returning to a previous Nation with a lot of Lore being brought up.

[@Glis54]

What if Zhongli also has a fake constellation and that's why both he and Neuvillette have a story named differently to their constellations

[@petiteange08]

Zhongli: never give any straightforward answer, fake death, fake identity, fake vision, wouldn't be surprised if he also has a fake constellation.

[@ft.jackjimmy7282]

@@petiteange08 is he even real at this point lol

[@lightefilit]

@@ft.jackjimmy7282 he's a shade of our imagination ;D

[@ighost_mnqn]

I've been having this thoughts that since he could change forms / shapeshift (elderly, woman, dragon, etc.) just what if, who he is currently right now isn't really what he looked like 6000 years ago 😭 and why most of his demos doesn't show his full face

[@meisstupid]

@@petiteange08his vision is fake, why not his constellations too? I mean, with how annoyingly sus he is, everything might as well be fake

[@PacWest6]

The Sustainer and Celestia lore in Genshin is the type of lore I’ve been most interested in since I started playing. I never even noticed the witches knot on the Sustainer’s back but it makes a lot of sense in relation to the Solomons knot symbolism how you described it

[@MarqMortis]

It's always a good day when another of Ashikai's 'unhinged-theories-that-make-a-scary-amount-of-sense' videos drops.

[@yYSilverFoxYy]

I think Zhongli and Deshret had very awkward encounter. The new BP bow says “The red lord, they say, once contended against the bright sun, and ultimately fell to the earth like a meteorite.” A meteorite. Fell into the Chasm. Or some “temperamental star” or “solar chariot”. So that’s what it was… I wonder how that conversation went.

[@Hyperflow]

don't forget he's got scales on his splash art. It's really a small detail. but it's there, on the insides of his clothes, just take a closer look.

[@yuki97kira]

Youre suggesting undressing him, and im all for it

[@egrace17]

He has scales throughout his model in the game! Not just in the splash art 😊

[@deannerodriguez2208]

Zhongli could be an actual celestial being at the very least, I find it wierd that Zhongli's Banner title "Vago Mundo" and Neuvillette called him "Deus Auri", are both in Latin. The other archons have their banner titles in english, and Neuvillette called them in either english or their nation inspiration language, like calling Ei "Narukami" which is japanese and is an established name ingame. Latin is mainly on locations that has connections to Celestia, like the Enkanomiya, Sal Vidagnr (That drawing in Dragon's Spine) If not then WTF NEUVI HE HAS LIKE DOZENS OF TITLED JUST PICK ONE!!!

[@justsomeguywithoutamustach3978]

Another thing that fits the record keeping part of the theory and how Geo is an exact account of history while Irminsul is memory history is Zhongli's 5th character story When you complete the Sumeru archon quest, people's memories of Rukhadevata dissappear completely and Buer is considered to be Sumeru's first archon. Once you finish the quest anything relating to her such as item descriptions and books is changed. From what I remember, there are only two exceptions, the chair in the eternal oasis and Zhongli's 5th character story You may think "oh, Hoyo just forgot to change it" but they didn't because Zhongli's 5th character story does change after you complete the Sumeru archon quest. It changed from "and only 2 remain of the first 7" to "and only 2 of the first 7 remain in positions of leadership". Originally I thought that this just referenced how the Akedemia was the ruling power of Sumeru while Nahida was locked away but, since this was changed after the archon quest, Nahida should now be back in power. She may be leaving a lot of things to the akademia but that shouldn't matter because the character story is also talking about Venti who leaves everything to his people TL;DR: Zhongli may remember Rukhadevata

[@Quiscala]

Thanks for pointing this out! I'd also like to add that Zhongli's "about Buer" voiceline is rather vague. He states that to guard Irminsul, Buer must possess great wisdom, and that all life in Teyvat owes her gratitude for saving Irminsul. The demon name 'Buer' and the praise he is giving can apply to both Rukhadevata and Nahida, but it feels a bit strange to lay all that praise on what is basically an infant Archon. It feels like he does in fact remember Rukhadevata, but of course cannot expose this without risking himself, so he leaves out just enough information to where you can't tell.

[@kaih_the_viewer]

Well that be terrifying. If Zhongli’s DOES remeber Rukhadevata, then that makes him a descender as the player character is the only person we know up to this point that remembers Rukhadevata. If it’s true than there could be some disturbing implications of what Zhongli’s true motives are and it could possibly explain why he gave up the gnosis despite the gnosis being needed to make mora, which is a finite currency that teyvat will run out of at some point (look up Matpats video on it) as he might know a way to keep another way of mora.

[@justsomeguywithgreenhair]

​@kaih_the_viewer The Geo gnosis being required to create Mora is debatable. It is said that mora is created from Rex Lapis' golden form. He also says that mora is a part of his blood and flesh. Also, he never stated he could not create mora. He just says it would require the geo archon's power. And since he isn't the Geo archons anymore, he would not create mora anymore. Since you know, rules are very important to him.

[@SunnyVane]

@@justsomeguywithgreenhair About creating Mora, for me it was obvious from the very first time I played through Liyue Archon quest, that he still can do it. He said "as Geo Archon Morax" he can easily create Mora (he said speciially "can", not "could"), but as "Zhongli" he can't. Since he has chosen to live as Zhongli he willingly dropped this skill, that's my understanding of it. Also, in his first story quest it is said that the first house in Liyue Harbor was created from Mora 3700 years ago, but I think that he's been an Archon for 2000+. Also, I'm wondering, is Mora = gold?

[@allew2826]

@@kaih_the_viewer adding to gnosis not being needed to creat mora: Zhongli says that Golden House was created from mora because mora was the easiest material for him to get, but the Golden House was created when Liyue Harbour was only being costructed, and we know that it happened 3700 years ago, somewhere in the begging/middle of the archon war right after Guizhong's death. It doesn't seem very likely that Zhongli had already became an archon and gotten the gnosis by then.

[@RafidW9]

Ashikai brings up Deshret- Me: Ah shit, here we go again.

[@namelessjaysun]

I hope you explore more on this God-king concepts for Deshret, Remus and Decarabian when all of old Fontaine and Remuria's lore are done in the future. I like the idea since those kings are completely beings from archons, sovereign dragons and shades. Kinda like another concept of authority in Teyvat.

[@nothmm8582]

Hmm, perhaps the Gnoses were made specifically for the God Kings to use. You know how the Authority of the Sovereigns only truly works when a Sovereign has it. Maybe the Powers of the Gnoses only truly work when the God Kings use it.

[@OguriOfMari]

Like you stated before his title is ”岩王帝君” which roughly translates to Rock King Emperor. He was definitely a god king at least in our opinions. Also funny pun to his title Rock king YanWang “岩王” can also be ”阎王”which means King of the Underworld/hell.

[@amouramarie]

If Teyvat with its demon names is the underworld/hell, Zhongli would be the closest thing to the god of hell. At least before Lucifer comes along, I guess.

[@rexlapis1075]

@@amouramarie He’s also stated to be deus auri by neuvillete which translates to golden god or god of gold , morax is the only one neuvillete mentions with Latin honourifics, in stone tablet stated he descended, and coincidentally he’s seemingly way more powerful than other archons , since we know from Azdaha’s lore (possible soverign) or dragon of similar power was sealed to the core of earth by morax , people think Azhdaha is just a frog , but in reality it was stated his roars shaked the heavens, when he walks he Tremble the lands, he dwarfed the mountains he called home(this statement is very impressive when you see how big the mountains of liyue is , we can see his size in the aftermath of morax’s battle , even though he was sealed to the core of earth his tail still reached the surface. Perhaps morax held a high position in heaven or a very high tier god/celestial being until he was demoted similar to Lucifer

[@1313fina]

🙏🙏🙏Please, HYV. I'm on my knees BEGGING for a Zhongli skin. 2024 is the year of the Dragon and you've already shown Zhongli with the same outfit twice already. Don't you think it's the perfect time to give Zhongli his skin?!

[@adityaunnava4304]

Twice? When's the other time?

[@akinohikari1000]

@@adityaunnava4304 the current web event and in cloud retainer's flashback of guizhong

[@Louis-gk7rk]

I think we will get his skin in an AQ with a big reveal of his identity, maybe after Natlan AQ

[@adityaunnava4304]

@@Louis-gk7rk defo won't be a free skin.

[@Jack_Ss]

​@@akinohikari1000tbh his hooded Archon fit is way cooler. I think the museum outfit is too similar to his regular look. And that one Yaksha

[@SorasShadow1]

I know you can re-read the quest dialog in-game but I'm gonna keep putting "let us replay story and character quests" in the suggestion box til they stop asking me for suggestions. The newer information tends to greatly re-contextualize older information that at this point I can barely remember. Glad I found this channel to help out with that!

[@nanfahkg1601]

His lore is op af. I want to see his all budget animation for one 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@Pepe-le-pewpewpew]

My crack theory: Since we reliably called Neuve out as a dragon based on his eyes, I'll go on a limb and point out that ZLs eyes are most similar to Unknown god than anything else in all of teyvat. His design especially as Morax/Rex Lapis has much in common with UG like the cube he's depicted with on his SoS, the homogenized darkened arms and gold veins (UG has a similar thing going on her arms but with cubic patterns). Design aside, he is evidently so OP to the point where he's remained the OG archon since the dawn of archons, undefeated and seemingly unaffected by all the catastrophes Teyvat has seen including the cataclysm. Even Guizhong succumbed to it and yet strangely it was only ZL who could see to her end. I think the reason he's so elusive about his true persona and nature is likely because he perhaps was either a mole planted on Teyvat by Celestia, who later defected in support of the anti-Celestia order. Or, he perhaps, like the Goddess of Flowers etc, was banished from Celestia for harbouring more-power-to-the-people sentiments. IMHO, I think this is why out of all the archons, the Tsaritsa established some special ties/contract with him and him only (not Venti, not Baal, not Rukkhadevata/Egreria/Focalors/Murata etc) because of his special links to Celestia - which would ultimately work in favor within her grand scheme. This would support his overall blasé attitude when it came to giving up the gnosis because it unlikely added any value to him in terms of power/mastery-wise let alone in securing his seat on the heavenly throne. And ZL probably can't risk Celestia finding out (in the same way Focalors had to "deceive" Celestia with the Fontaine Prophecy). So he chose to remain a low profile even with Traveller. Also, this man's memories are immune to the erosion of time and likely Irminsul rewriting because, like the descenders, he is simply not of this world. But I don't think he's a descender in that sense, since as Nahida said, not all who aren't from this world become "descenders". However it then makes sense why he didn't give us any info about our sibling, because if he did, he would actually blow his own cover. Instead he did give us a crumb that we are "witnesses...the ones who cross celestial atlas though countless worlds...". This is something no other archon was able to discern. You might argue Nahida gave us a lot of insight, but keep in mind, she was only capable of this based on info she dug out from Irminsul records at our behest- she herself would've had no inkling otherwise. And yet ZL who technically has no ties to Irminsul, could. How come?? Sussy baka I tell ya. Also he only demonstrates his powers in the capacity of magnanimous Geo-mastery, but we never got any explanation of how Xiao got saved from his Chasm charity-suicide lol. The situation was so precarious it made no sense that geo could be wielded in any way/shape/form to create a solution, but ZL clearly intervened in a fate-altering way - which again, is unheard of from an Archon perspective of their powers. Now to make things more suspect, Neuve seems to hold a certain vitriol towards ZL out of all the other archons seemingly for a crime (overthrowing dragons) that they're all guilty of...BUT WHY ZL SPECIFICALLY??? It wouldn't make sense to single him out unless, perhaps, he has special ties to Celestia. Which makes me wonder, if Neuve is upset from the perspective of ZL not defending Teyvat/dragons enough in the beginning of time as he should and perhaps only came to realize only later (which in turn then, cost him banishment of sorts) Tldr: ZL is Celestia's rebellious nepo baby.

[@lightefilit]

Your Tldr cracked me up so bad, I couldn't stop laughing for minutes 😂 But I agree with that stance, and your theories also make sense!

[@Maurya1080_]

I was also thinking in the same way. But rather believe that he is 2nd Descender of teyvat who lost duel with 1st Descender( Primordial one) and had to work under him. I think it as because by records , he DESCENDED to teyvat almost 6000 years ago and The Chasm is also created from an impact of meteorite 6000 years ago. It is also said that there was some kind of star thing which was later taken back to heavenly principles. I believe that the star thing was a mode of travel ( I heard about solar chariot but not sure) and that's why Zhongli is stucked here and cannot go to other world.

[@haru_catty]

The tldr 😭😭 commendable theory tho slayyy

[@scrappy_horns8139]

Zhongli is ancient…living 6k yrs is no joke so im not suprised if he knows Deshret, Ishtaroth, Decarabian, Remus and similarly other dead ancient ones like Goddess of Flowers even personally…no doubt he knows a lot more than he lets on…

[@Sesquipedalian044]

With the cutscene of a petrified Guizhong, I don't think its her being sealed but rather whatever thing she was fighting. The close up on her shows the Adeptus behind her casting the "sealing spell" on something above her, and the zoom out you can still kinda see part of her petrified form peaking out from around zhongli, well below the sealing cube thing.

[@jalenlloyd2467]

Can I just say how extremely grateful I am to have a content creator like you give such a digestible way to understand the lore of this game. Most of this would've went over my head but you've given so much food for thought in these theories that it just makes me appreciate how in depth this game really is on all fronts. SO, THANK YOU AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

[@tophatdoctor7855]

I feel like the Morax bull thing is probably a reference to the Bull Headed demon king from Journey to the West, who’s the most senior and most powerful of the seven demon kings (which is Zhongli’s exact position relative to the seven archons or ‘demon kings’). He’s also very reminiscent of an underworld god in a lot of ways, given his similarities to King Yan from chinese mythology, even down to having money based off of them, and the recurring theme across mythologies of underworld rulers also being gods of riches. I feel like he’s probably the sun/a sun god and maybe a descender, but he could also be the shade of death.

[@percyscam]

the idea that since there is 3 moon sisters, there could be 4 sun brothers absolutely floors me, it seems so obvious i'm shocked it took so long to realise this

[@rainytoast]

going crazy every time we have newer theories about zhongli ; _ ; thank you for the good work ashikai,, o)-( i love the direction you're going with this!!!

[@citoyenneteavanttout7273]

To complement your theory, the squarish symbol on his back can also be found in many places, but what's intriguing is that it can be seen in both smithing/craft smelting tables and in Alchemy tables after you finish working on them as well. We know that Morax taught the people of Liyue how to craft smelt the ores, and we know from Mist Veiled Lead Elixir that '' Jueyun Karst is the realm of the mighty and illuminated Adepti. But other than the ability to control the elements of the world, Jueyun Karst is also home to three other untold secrets: Alchemy, Sigils, and Sub-Space Creation.'' Alchemy was an art that was brought to the Adepti by Morax, or the Golden God as his most recent name/Orobashi suggests him to be. That does fall into character since creating gold is the epitome of Alchemy as pointed by Rheindottir to Albedo (chalk pursues Gold), and curiously enough it's the gold in the form of Mora is the catalyst we use today in Alchemy. Matter of fact it's in Albedo's lore that we find the most connections between gold, the sun and Alchemy. I find it rather intriguing that we have only two kinds of Leyline outcorps one from which we can farm Mora, the Blossoms of Wealth, I wonder how would this insert into this lore, especially since we know the role of the Leylines as a ''network of elemental energy and memories of everything that has lived in this world, both on the surface and down in the Abyss.'' Secondly, it's funny that you mentioned it, no long ago I was roaming around Liyue and came across one of the ancient ruins, this time it can be directly linked to Rex Lapis, it's the Taishan Mansion Puzzle where we read : ''Here stood Taishan Mansion, established by royal decree. ...But the Geo Lord wished for his residence to remain among the people of Liyue, hence, all trace of the path to that divine place was lost in the mortal realm." One final thing is, if you look closely enough to the meteor Zhongli launches it's actually what you described as a Merkhaba in 3D, just made with squares instead of triangles (AutoCAD ruined my brain circuits and I couldn't unsee it haha) and it does look like a container rather than an actual meteor if you look closely to it in the event webpage. Aslo adding to design elements, it always boggles me how nobody ever told me they noticed how the broche on his chest merely blends in with the rest of his outfit, it's rather a strange element, the closest thing to resemble it is the symbol in the traveler's constellation (at least Lumine's in my perspective). Anyhow thank you Ashikai for the quality content, I think there will be much more to discuss with the upcoming map extension in 4.4 and the dialogs of our mother Adeptus Cloud Retainer. ❤

[@citoyenneteavanttout7273]

I also wanted to point out something : How or why the Archon War began is currently a mystery. Gods were able to coexist relatively peacefully before the War began. According to Soraya (Zhongli himslef pointed out that her research is the closedt to the truth), the war began as a struggle over the seven divine seats in Celestia. However, we know that Morax "Descended" WITH dominion over Geo, unlike the other Gods who had minor dominions over their elements, also "I wish not for dominion yet I cannot let the common folk suffer" there was no need for him to fight for that seat appearantly. That would make your theory about him "replacing" whatever the Geo dragon was meant to uphold in the ecosystem of Teyvat plausible. And YET, he seemed to come into Teyvat with far greater power than the other gods, in a place where another envoy of Celestia (Guizhong) was already sent, in the approximate start of the archon war. Anyhow your theory would also make sense of two things : Why the archons used to gather in Liyue, and maybe why Neuvillette stated "even when the trial eventually takes place, it is still not a given that the judgment will lead to a physical confrontation." I still couldn't make sense of that, why mention that out of all things? Edit : I just replayed the video and there is also something I noticed that is rather odd. In the Prithiva Topaz Gemstone it's said : "The currencies that flow through this land are my flesh and blood. For thus did I become the guarantor of the people's hard work, wisdom, and future. This is the trust I have placed in them. Betray it, and you taint my blood." It's rather curious that the lines, most allegedly Zhongli's, that we by the way are yet to hear in game, depicts him as the one who progenenited "all the currencies" and in plural, not singular, thus why his oldest name is Deus Auri. Also for those who played the Narzissenkreuz quest they know get a glimpse of the duality between Gold and Red. Deshret was a god a lot associated with gold, that was then called the Scarlet King, and we know of Deshret's involevement with forbidden knowledge. We also know form the Grain of Aerosiderite lore that "A black meteor once fell beyond Liyue's Sea of Clouds, said to have fallen to vanquish a monster. However, it was stained by powerful tainted blood, so this item no longer possesses the pure power of Rex Lapis." and from Piece of Aerosiderite that "Only power beyond the order of Teyvat is able to stain the power of Rex Lapis black." that would explain why Deshret is portraid as a "Black sun". Also yes, I'd die with Ashikai and Kim on many hills : Zhongli being a sun God, Azhdaha being either the Sovereign dragon of Geo, thus why he's older than the mountains, had been sealed, and why he's named the Lord of Geovishaps or a reincarnation of the prior one. And That the Meteor that fell in the Chasm is potentially where Zhongli came, regardless of the semantics people like to pick on.

[@s.a.m1845]

What are you doing with Autocad

[@citoyenneteavanttout7273]

@@s.a.m1845 hahahaha I am happy you read until there, the answer is college☹I am finished now but everytime I trigger the remaining 3D rendering braincells I have left I get war flashbacks

[@s.a.m1845]

@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 Autocad sounds familiar in my course that's why im asking about it

[@citoyenneteavanttout7273]

@@s.a.m1845 Yesss found one of those who share the memory 😁🙁

[@alexhuettl1716]

I feel like Irminsul is about perception and earth is about reality. Irminsul cannot alter what has happened, only the way it is perceived. Also, I am absurdly happy that you pointed out the link between Neuvillette and Zhongli. From the second we met him, the similarities were driving me insane. I couldn't find the exact link because I personally didn't think that Zhongli was a Dragon Sovereign. BUT the fact that the Traveler has nearly identical abilities to both Zhongli and Neuvillette was making me very tinfoil hat. So thank you so much for pointing out a connection that made sense.

[@mith1783]

Its absolutely stunning how deep Genshin lore is. Thank you so much for your hard work on this and every other genshin lore videos 🔥

[@SappyTedjajuwana]

this game never stop to amazed me how attentive they are with detail and real world history. thank you for compiling all of this.

[@StarpoBerry]

Not sure if this has anything to do with anything... but there's also Zhongli’s deleted voiceline about Celestia. In it, there was a longing for how he missed it and how it had been a long time since he's been. Again, it could mean nothing, but you never know. Especially since it was deleted

[@macabrevoid]

9:20 “Oh man what a nice Ashikai video, all about Zhongli, no mention of Desh- OH NOT YOU AGAIN”

[@meisstupid]

You can’t have a Zhongli video without either Guizhong, Azhdaha or Deshret

[@mochimonika]

So basically the god-kings are three moon sisters and four sun brothers, and we got mondstadt - decarabian, liyue - zhongli, inazuma - canon, sumeru - decarabian, fontaine - remus and then natlan and sneznhaya are gonna have aria and sonnet 🤔 my brain is here exploding and trying to process anything other than that and just wow /pos

[@cyrosgold7]

I think the question of "What is a God King?" should be looked at. They are obviously powerful beings(Gods of the Human Realm) and from what I can tell were from the "Divine Envoy Era." Both Remus and Deshret were born after the "Second Who Came" based on their lore. However Zhongli, or rather Morax is believed to be older, being still young for the events of "The Second Who Came".

[@nothmm8582]

Well they all don't have to be the same age just like how the Archons aren't all the same age.

[@seoulrainme]

We need to know more about Zhongli and Venti 😭 so much mystery

[@Chaffee738]

I've noticed that the people of Liyue may have been receiving Visions earlier than other regions and this may be significant to Zhongli. In Zhongli's final ascension line, he references Visions and marvels at how the people of Liyue were aware of the strain on the body of using elemental energy "when they stood by me". (Note: his surprise at Visions granting elemental powers itself seems to be a mistranslation, but that's not the focus here) Notice that he mentions people "standing by him" with Visions. This most likely refers to the Archon War, as Liyue has seen peace after the Archon War and Zhongli retreated from the people, only appearing once a year to give guidances. The Lithic Blade and Lithic Spear stories mention that all soldiers of the Millelith during the Archon War were significantly stronger than the average Millelith soldier in current Liyue. This matches with the known lore that Visions enhance the user physically on top of granting control over an element. So the people of Liyue were getting Visions from at least during the Archon War. _Before Zhongli got the Geo Gnosis._ Which shouldn't be possible because granting Visions is made possible by receiving a Gnosis and becoming an Archon, as explicitly mentioned in Neuvillette's Vision story. This, combined with the uniquely rhombic shape of the Liyue Visions, and the fact that the Vision granted by Neuvillette also has a unique design, I think there's something more to be revealed about Zhongli and the Liyue Visions.

[@kotarouinugami1745]

Do we know that Gnoses were given out at the end of Archon War? Or were they actually present on the battlefield, and physically fought over? Also, Visions are associated with the thrones, not the gnoses (which is why Neuvillette can grant visions even after parting with his Gnosis). When were these given out?

[@Chaffee738]

@@kotarouinugami1745 The first question I currently have no answer to. The second one I did wonder, and this is what Neuvillette's Vision story says. To continue to subdue and control the resentments and loathing of the world, the usurper and one who came after created the Gnoses together. So it came to be that an order was made to be upheld, and thus did humans come to only possess these seven remembrances, and all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other. From that day on, whenever a person's wishes reached the heavens, the seven overseers of the material realm were duty-bound to grant them a gift. Though they might know nothing of who or what wish had stepped into the threshold of the sacred, the Seven Archons still had to impart a shattered shard of their mastery to that person. From this the best conclusion seems that while the authority to grant Visions isn't tied to the Gnoses (rather most likely the elemental authority), the creation of the Gnoses was a step required for the distribution of Visions to be possible.

[@TheGeekyRedMage]

This makes me wonder then if, similar to Deshret, Celestia just straight up ask Zhongli to be given the Gnosis and rule over this authority that would be given to him, but unlike Deshret, he agreed to it (and ig then the Archon War for him would be more so to guard this authority then? maybe). This would also imply then that, at the very least, the God Kings were the first in line to get this new authority that Celestia was granting (this is of course with the idea that Zhongli is indeed on of these God Kings). Hmmm... definitely fun to think about.

[@rinzukodas79]

Love this because I share similar suspicions and I love to see fun speculation

[@lightefilit]

Gnosis isn't exactly what gives the ability to grant visions. It's just a symbol of Archon's Rule, an elemental focai for gods (Archons in this case) to enhance the power they already possess and a possible key to Celestia (since it directly "resonates" with it). It's not what gives Archon's the elemental authority, the Devine Throne is what grants that stolen authority (and it's not a thing or a device, it's more of something intangible). If Ashikai's theory about Zhongli is correct, he simply already had Geo Authority before the Archon War even took place. Which means he was already serving Celestia as one of Teyvat's rulers and was capable of granting visions before they decided to set up Archons Rule. Gnosis is irrelevant here in any case.

[@glitchangelz9847]

Girl ya already know john lee is some overpowered god when hes casually throwing meteors the size of his cakes with his arms crossed

[@katcrow]

They've done a very solid job of making zhongli feel like a comforting figure (in my perspective, ofc lol) so whatever we get confimed about his DEFINITELY question worthy lore/past - I just hope hes still a "good guy" (as far as genshins grey morals go lol) in the end. I think he will be, anything else would be such a painful twist lol

[@AkinaAdanashi]

Agreed! Especially given that his dad energy was so strong in the recent lantern rite…. He’s definitely more than meets the eye and I really hope hoyo will not hurt us when they reveal his past

[@levelupcastgaming]

There was a piece of "Leaked Lore" or "Fake Lore" that I heard floating around back during 1.x. That lore said Zhongli was, unlike Venti and other 7, from the Celestia like he was the native Celestial being that was sent to Teyvat, but it was confirmed that it was not the case and it was a fake leak. It is interesting to see that this kind of theory comes around again.

[@nothmm8582]

This came from a Deleted voiceline that was in the first Closed Beta Test of Genshin. Zhongli says, "Ah Celestia......I haven't been there in a long time". It never suggested that he was sent by Celestia just that he hasn't been there in a long time.

[@choco5629]

@nothmm8582 okay but it does show that they are planning for him to be something MOREA than an archon. If he knows or has been to celestia, than it would make him being an archon usless because their entire goal is to have a seat in celestia. I believe they deleted it not to remove lore but to hide it for the time being. Voicelines from characters like the raiden shogun shows how he is a mystery with stuff soon to be unfolded

[@amadeus5539]

@@choco5629 venti states in one of his voicelines that the water and fruits in celestia are bad. This might hint at venti also having visited celestia in the past. However he also says he can't fly that far, which i think is a result of his weaker form in the present day.

[@choco5629]

@amadeus5539 I belive actually that if anyone were to spoil something about celestia it would be 1) Venti, because he said something about celestia getting mad at him for saying too much 2)Tsaritsa, because she is actively going against celestia and 3)Zhongli because he has probably lived in the old world, that is my guess

[@StingingNettle47]

I'm not sure if anyone's pointed this out already, but in the cutscene where Zhongli discovers Azhdaha, there's a cube (square) smack dab on top of him, which would support the idea that he was previously sealed away.

[@pepperedpeanuts6128]

When I think I'm going crazy - I just remember that Ashikai exists. Great job, as always!

[@heathergeer9548]

It would also be interesting since if only one sun brother remains it would explain only 1 sun is in the sky. Also the shades of the Primordial 1 can be described as shadows and sun's cast shadows, 4 sun's 4 shadows. It would imply that the sun brother created the shades however wich is wierd, but the primordial 1 was said to create a bunch of laws maybe one of those laws was order, and by the time the moon sister and sunbrother were around there was no order. Or the one of the laws perhaps of shadows or time, required 4 sun's to be made, it would also explain that a popular theory is that 3 of the shades are the moon sisters 2 of them died so that would tie back to Remus and decarabian and 1is weak from the cataclysm witch most likely represents deshret, and one of the shades is speculated to be istaroth and istaroth could relate to zhongli. Just my head canons

[@plushyneko]

There's also another theory of Zhongli, as the prime adeptus granting the adepti their elemental power through their "third eye", thus them not requiring a vision to operate. We also have Xianyun not featuring a vision in her official art. This implies that our Geo Daddy also has even more than what meets the eye compared to what's discussed today.

[@OhItsNekoAgain]

That would explain that we always feel like Zhongli has been there since the dawn of time, like he has been there LONG before the Archon War since he did beat his competitors fiercly almost looking effortlessly considering his power over the Geo Element. I think that's a very interesting theory!

[@chimk1nb055]

To add more crack to the crackness, but come to think of it, Zhongli may have a lot more similarities to the Traveller than we initially thought. 1) Like his whole sun symbolism going on, along with Guizhong sometimes associated with the moon; (glaze lilies, like the Nikotpala lotus bloom during moontime) kinda reminds me of Aether's star(?) shaped sword handle at their encounter with the Sustainer and Lumine's like the moon. 2) Guizhong's clothes and hairstyle uncannily almost identical to Lumine. Then Aether's earring like Zhongli's..... and his archon war outfit having similar color palette and rhomboid patterns with his clothes. Like they're trying to imply that in a way, the Traveller, is a parallel or "double" to Zhongli. 3) "Star" Like the archon quest title "A New Star Approaches", signifying that there was/is an existance of an "Old Star". As far as we knew, it was already made clear that Azhdaha, one of the oldest beings in Liyue is a Geo vishap from the 'Olde World' so it can't be him. That leaves Zhongli being at least 6000 years old. It was stated in the game that the dragon we saw was merely a 'vessel', implying that it was just one of Morax's many forms. And if I remember correctly from an old web event(?) said that "Rex Lapis has a true form" as if nobody really knows his actual identity/shape and origin. Both Rex Lapis and the God of Dust are "descended" to Teyvat. With Guizhong dwelled upon the land first. Like Lumine, if you play as Aether as the MC. Despite that, what's made clear is that it is said that the first mora is minted from his "golden" form (from "Don't play with money vc"). And many infos scattered in Teyvat regions at place to place either mentioning Morax as the golden god/Deus Auri or the gold being his literal flesh and blood. Then one Albedo's vc stated that "without human manipulation, you would need 8 suns to naturally create gold". And what is a sun? A very large star. 4) "Story line(?)" I'm not sure whether this is just a small coincidence or not, so take this with a grain of salt. But don't you ever think that the archon quests kinda reflects parts of Zhongli's known history? I got this idea from one of the vc saying that we, the Traveller had to explore more of Teyvat to know the truth. MONDSTAT (Freedom): Rex Lapis giving freedom to Xiao. Allying with other gods; Goddes of Dust, God of Stove (Marchosius. Giving refuge to Gold of Salt's followers and ordering Yakshas to rescue people on The Chasm. INAZUMA (Eternity): doing everything what is takes to prevent the Erosion from harming the closest ones. Assuming that his Erosion instead of making him able to forget memories, but "People abandon and surrender the things they love to pursue the right path. Perhaps this the the erosion imposed on my by the Heavenly Principles". And him retiring as the Geo archon is one of those ways Sumeru (Wisdom): states that the memories of entities that are not connected to irminsul cannot be altered. If Zhongli knew that the history can be changed, why keep bragging on having a "far too prefect" memory? Fontaine (Justice): Furina being an actor, being the 'false' Hydro archon for 500 years to fool the Heavenly Principles by preventing the prophecy from happening. Kinda reminds me on how Zhongli is interpreted differently on different identities; Morax (on the archon war outfit): a stone-faced dominant warrior and leader Rex Lapis (from previous Lantern Rite cutscene showing his costume made by Menogias): a fair and trustable strategist Zhong Li (in modern-style set also made by Menogias): a reliable "mortal" Wangsheng consultant. And on his second SQ, Zhongli explicitly saying that he CANNOT tell the "truth" of his further past life, because he was bounded to a contract with a "third" party. Which is weird because the recent contract he signed is titled "The Contract to End All Contracts". With a GNOSIS as a trade component, which he himself said that there is absolutely nothing in the world that could equal the gnosis as something to be sacrificed. So could it also be related to that?

[@citoyenneteavanttout7273]

It's the FIRST TIME I ever see somebody who also payed attention to the fact that the Archon quests second part is "a NEW star approaches".... At the time of writing this, I think we accumulated enough evidence to tie him to the Sun, like com'on..... Even the Alchemy weapon mentioned him as "the only one capable of creating Gold"....😂

[@chimk1nb055]

@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 I was very happy when the game just straight up confirmed it yet many of the loud minorities are still in denial 😂. Like come on, there's already so many infos about him related to the sun and gold shoved up to your face in-game. They kept trying justifying it with Remus and Deshret.. But the new Remuria WQ debunked it that he used brass, and Liloupar said that Deshret's 'Fool's Gold' coins are made by alloy of brass and bronze. What's up with their obsession with gold really needs to be studied 😂😂

[@Tsukkiinnaart]

If he is brothers with decarabian, it would be wild that he is besties with the entity who rebelled against his brother😂

[@Ren_rz]

You don't have to look too deep for Gold connections with Zhongli because sure he's the one who created Mora the world's currency but his newest known title "Deus Aura" literally means God of Gold

[@finnthefannibal]

Now I'm waiting for the archon skin, the pre archon war skin, and the God King skin

[@nobodyimportant4503]

I need more info on Decarabian and Remus now, since Deshret and Zhongli had a best friendship in a seelie, and I need to know who Dec and Remus's best friends were too.

[@freshspinach6460]

scylla is right there??

[@whatismyadjectiveiconfused]

I came from the future. Remus indeed befriended a 'supposed' seelie named sybilla

[@thomasschmidt-rudigier6459]

Alright I liked all of the theory but the only thing I have to say is : maybe the cubic things (with visions and archon statues) are like this because Geo is the rock element, and it just wouldn’t be right for the rock element to be anything but a square

[@nanfahkg1601]

Hoyo staffs pull ancient god history in all cultures and mixed them. What a big brain move. Whoever come up with Zhongli backstory is genius.

[@manymany1191]

Sanxingdui museum should sponsor you for an advertisement and an intro to ancient ancient Chinese culture

[@matagonzalezelenacarmina1637]

I just discovered this channel and I won't be able to sleep thanks to this great theory. There is also something I would like to say about the fact that Zhongli is Celestia's heir because he is the eldest of the brothers, he may not necessarily be the heir because he is the eldest of the brothers, remember that the eldest son will not always inherit, He may have achieved his status as heir by being the most suitable for the position, having greater support from the other celestials, having the favor of the "King" or by being the only survivor of all the brothers, so who can It has not always been the heir, the change may have been before, during or after the Archon War. Let's remember that in the demo of the character he tells us that he does not want to be the one in charge, telling us that he is a person who does not like to be the one in charge, but that he is willing to be the one in charge. if that's what it takes. Of course, this tells us about being the archon of Liyue, but it can also be taken in the case of the throne of Celestia. This will give us two possibilities: The first is that he would always be an heir, whether by age, support, favor or aptitude; but he is reluctant to that position, but that he is willing to fulfill the duty that was imposed on him. The second is that he is reluctant because he was never raised to be the heir, that duty was imposed on him since the previous heir is no longer capable of fulfilling his duty, and he is the only one capable and has no choice but to comply with your new duties.

[@eternaleez]

i think Guizhong is not the one being sealed in the cutscene but instead the beast/god that killed her by turning her into stone

[@ajergely6230]

Well the best i could come up with was him being a parallel to the shade of space due to the adepti s world creation powers and inspired by norse god vidar, also associated with space. This is on a whole other level. Love our archaeology game as always.

[@71775926]

So I looked up the cultural context of the epithet "帝君" (Dijun). It says: "帝君，中国民间信仰对神中位尊者的敬称，如：文昌帝君、东华帝君关圣帝君等。帝君是一个尊称，也是一个古代权利地位的象征，帝君位于玉帝之下，古代帝君有多位，不同的帝君掌管不同的职能。" Which to my understanding means that according to Chinese folk mythology, is an honorific title given to certain deities. Also, it is an ancient symbol of AUTHORITY (emphasis mine). Dijuns are many and occupy the rung just below the Jade Emperor. Different Dijuns have different domains of influence. My guess is that Zhongli holds the title of Dijun because he possesses the Geo authority.

[@RecordToDeathToBoredom]

Yes, it was mentioned in the game that he is not a true dragon; just that he took the shape of one. I believe it was Zhongli himself that said so during his archon quest or at the end of it. Whether it's when you question him at the end of it or what, idk. Or maybe it was in the Azhdaha side quest. I just know that stuck to me. So yeah, it's very much likely that he did so in respect to them. He could've also done it because he wants his people to understand that dragons are the ones to worship. Or another way to put it, if they are to respect him in a form, it'd have to be a dragon. I believe he is the only one to have shapeshifted in such a way. I can't recall anyone else shapeshifting in general. Zhongli is truly a mystery.

[@DodgeViper92]

20:02 this remindes me of those cubes that appeared in the explosion of the jade chamber when it was dropped on osial

[@tweety4275]

Re-visiting this after the Remuria update and Zhongli is looking mighty suspicious with his “Golden House” with a place called Domus Aurea being a capital for another god-king. I wonder what is hidden in the blackcliff forge area

[@ellendaniels8715]

I would LOVE to see a video of you going more into Kaeya and his background. Besides him being a spy, I think he's going to be a key character involving the Abyss. Even his voice lines make him sound so sus...

[@davegrox3150]

Zhongli being reference to the Jade emperor is just… so obvious to Chinese people.

[@citoyenneteavanttout7273]

It's funny because so many things we are very shocked to find out are meant by the CN fandom as "duh" 😅 isn't he like the "emporor" the the "immortals (adepti)"....

[@nuguya-2]

For 3 years I thought Zhongli's name was based on Chongli aka Zhurong. (Zh from Zhurong and ongli from Chongli) But, his story being based on one of the Wufang Shangdi (Five Gods). - Heidi, Black Deity, Water. (North) - Chidi, Red Deity, Fire. (South) - Baidi, White Deity, Metal. (West) - Qingdi, Green Deity, Wood (East) - Huangdi, Yellow Deity, Earth. (Middle) I thought Zhongli's story will be based on Huangdi. Because of the Chariot Theories. Huangdi is known: - For being the Yellow Deity and Yellow Emperor. - As a human, progenitor, and a culture hero. - As the Master of the Chariot Shaft and Yellow Deity of the Chariot Shaft. - He is also associated with the Big Dipper, or Great Chariot (Běidǒu). Going with the idea that Zhongli might be a bull. We can even mix Greek Mythology with Chongli and Huangdi. For example, - Helios son who drove the Sun Chariot too close or too far from Earth causing harm was struck down by Zeus. This led the Sun Chariot and the Radiant One to crash into the Eridanus River. Instead of Helios son we'll change the Charioteer to Dionysus. You might be thinking why? Here's why: - Dionysus (Phanes) drove a chariot drawn by three beasts a Panther, a Bull, and a Griffin. - Funnily enough in one of the stories Zeus ate Phanes. Why did Zeus eat him? To absorb his divine substance and become the only Master of the Universe. - Phanes who is known as, the Shining One, the Father of the Night, also called Eros (Love), Metis (Thought), Erikepaios (Power) and Protogonos (First-Born). - After Zeus ate Phanes. Phanes is also considered Dionysus' first manifestation. Dionysus = Phanes and Phanes = Dionysus. Now, with the Bull Theory Zhongli might've been one of the three, or the only one who pulled the Sun Chariot.

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

Hmm

[@bombayneko]

So I learned this recently but Zhongli's name is actually a poetic way of saying farewell. The literal translation could be the clock thing but no one really uses it that way. I don't know how relevant this is though lol.

[@1manshow10]

And also, 31 December is his birthday 🤣🤣

[@angerycloud1684]

Something small I noticed is that how the five fold symbol represents the nations where the four god kings we're talking about resided in. The symbol represents earth water fire and wind, which may be a direct refrence to the Liyue, Fontaine, Natlan, and Mondstadt. Like Zhongli was the king of Liyue (Geo/Earth), Remus was the king of Remuria or ancient Fontaine (Hydro/Water), and Decabrian was the king of ancient Mondstadt (Anemo/Wind). The only problem with this is that Deshret doesn't really have any relations to fire (unless we say desert which is hot and fire is hot-), but desheret might be the Ether in the middle, due to all his relations to light and sun. But if it DOES follow this pattern, then we should see the last brother or king in Natlan (Pyro/Fire). However this really messes up the idea of 7 siblings (4 sun brothers, 3 moon sisters), which really makes me mad because everything in teyvat is in a cycle of 7.

[@Antony_o_goat]

Genshin is based on Gnosticism, and if I'm not mistaken, the world was created 6000 years ago, and Zhongli says he has been in teyvat for more than 6000 years, so either he was the same age as teyvat or or is older Zhongli also has connections with gold, its constellation in Chinese refers to something coming from the sky or something similar, there are books that say that a carriage fell and it has connections with Morax(Not if it's in the game or it's a file that the community found, but there is this link) his legendary mission doesn't have the name of his constellation, he uses squares, we don't know anything about his life before to know Guizhong, Retainer of the clouds, Ping, etc. When he says "suffer the wrath of the rock" he always says "Rock" with a capital R, as if it were a name and not a real rock, even though he will suffer erosion he still keeps his mind and memories intact without any distortion or forgetfulness, he says that the traveler will be important to keep the historical events, as if he knew that that he would not be affected by irminsul, Neuvillette called him "God Auri" (God of gold), he apparently in his speeches seems to remember Rukkhadevata, there is a bow that was not released Azdaha"Dreams of Dragonfell" which is part of Liyue's weapon kit in which it talks about the dragon king wanting to visit the moon palace Furthermore, Azdaha CLAIMS that Zhongli will stay alive until the end and that he will be the last, he is absolutely sure that he will not die, and basically all the gods we have encountered so far can die, some are immortal so that they cannot be killed, others just age, but they can die to stronger beings, others live until erosion consumes them, but this does not seem to have an effect Zhongli, isn't it strange? Almost all the characters who suffered from erosion and went crazy are younger than Zhongli, following the logic of his age he should already be crazy, but that doesn't happen apparently Honestly Zhongli is probably the most mysterious character in Genshin so far Sorry if English isn't very good, it's not my language and I used the translator

[@charroboo]

"You wouldn't call a bird, an alligator..would you?" Oh ho ho, how naive of you to think that.

[@blueao2670]

Ngl, I had hoped you would upload this on new years eve, right on Zhonglis birthday

[@brentwilliamomagap]

btw with regards to the the geo's statue of 7 holding a cube instead of a sphere, its possible that orbs on the statues of the 7 (the hydro archon's orb that glows is in the center of the sword's rain guard) is a representation of the "Globus cruciger" a monarch's regalia that represents Authority. And since Liyue's culture is based on Chinese culture then it makes sense that the orb/globe is a cube, since in Ancient Chinese cosmology the world is represented as a square(the flat earth) and the heavens are depicted as a circle that encompasses the world (also I can't help but suspect that its another reference to firmament).

[@akinohikari1000]

thank you for this in-depth analysis of my fave, i love your theories!

[@arylbleu6912]

I cloud believe the sun brothers, I mean, we had references of zhongli sharing the top symbol of the domain walls, and in te cutscene of the yakshash I think they divided them pretty similarly, as well as zhongli beeing higher...

[@Lowciel_Orca]

I'm just sussy on something. I was rewatching the various animated cutscenes and i stumbled on the Yaksha one when Zhongli himself says "Morax summoned the yakshas" and we are showed 1 yaksha for each element. Yeah he didn't created them (supposedly it's not really expanded upon) but it's sussy that, even if the lore says that there were more we never see them or these "more" never get mentioned again, neither Xiao mention them, besides the members of his group and since Xiao is supposedly the last one where the others go? I mean they can't all of them being obliterated or succumbed to the karma if general illuminated beast still exist (unless they are literally like soldiers and succumbed while fighting for the various unnamed gods in the archon war). Xiao also doesn't remember how he got his vision and it's not present in the other yaksha video where we actually see the 5 yaksha official designs, the vision is not in his arm yet.. the thing is that when we see them fight it's visible that they can use their elemental powers so we can presume Xiao can use his anemo powers at least in an extent even without a vision and the other yakshas seems to never got one so why does he have one in the first place? We know that the developer said that Xiao vision is in fact fake. Returning to Zhongli, I believe he haves some kind of holding on the elements.. the fact that even Azdhaha have various from for each element besides Dendro, same with he rest of the geo lizards, even Hutao boss for the ascension material is the same, doesn't the game says that he created them? Sussy. I believe, somehow, he haves a deeper connection with the elements that we might think or at least maybe he's connected to the descendants somehow, since he shares a lot of little hints here and there with Aether and Lumine. He's also the only archon which is not connected to any supernatural being with his same element (Ei and Miko, Furina and Neuvilette, Nahida and Dendro sovern/Aranara, Venti and dvalin), Azdhaha should not count since he can use multiple at the same time imo.. if Azdhaha is supposedly the Geo sovereign, why Neuvilette can't do the same Zhongli haves many, many similarities to various characters that are beyond human and archons. Plus.. the only none human beings that are pure geo.. is the Golden Wolford (which resembles Ōmukade imo) and the cube guy (which spawns the question of why they are all cubes made of a possible type of rock and crystals instead of being materially different) Let's not talk on how his supposed element, geo, is effective only on geo itself and how geo "absorbs" the other elements (cryalize) instead of "reacting" to each others. Might me putting a thin foiled hat and going crazy but something definitely ain't right with Zhongli lmao. The fact that he shut down the traveler immediately, even if he's subtitles with him being against celestia, makes it even more sussy.. at least the other archons tried to say something.

[@RenoDarkwater]

I love all theories regarding Zhongli. I've played Genshin Impact since day 1 and he is still my favorite character ever. I really hope to see him having a center role in the future showing all of his might.

[@tamakikotatsu6680]

Does anyone remember azdaha's dialogue where he says, he is older that the mountains and the oceans that decides. The "oceans that decides" could be a foreshadowing for neuvillette, because he is a judge, and a hydro dragon. Another things is that, azdaha has a desire to see the world, and morax heard his wish so he granted him "vision" to see. Which is similar to how the "visions" are given to people in teyvat.

[@Yvonne-Bella]

I have something of note to support this theory more. Remember in Sumeru Act 2 when Nahida referred herself to be the "moon"? On surface prior to Act 5, it's obviously pointing to Rhukkadevata, but if the events still play the same without her, then the "sun" would be Deshret

[@someguyjumping]

Now seeing that Zhongli's asteroid/fidget toy looks a lot like Solomon's knot.

[@maiafay]

The fact you called it a fidget toy…I’m totally stealing that lol.

[@Gwendolinh]

I can't wait to come back to these videos in like 2+ years and see what was and wasn't correct. I love all these theories we come up with. Absolutely loving the 4 brothers thing, definitely adding that one to my headcanons list.

[@galinagreen6622]

Thank you so much for this! I don’t even care how much of this will turn out to be true, I just love this grandpa’s lore! And the way he’s portrayed in game. He’s been my favorite character since I started playing in the beginning of 2021❤ Definitely rewatching this video!

[@Mistellesonn]

Lore theory videos like this always blow me away because I trot through the game and just find things pretty. Like, "repeating motifs? lovely!" but I never put two and two and two together and actually think about _why_ the game creators could be using similar imagery. It is so fun to learn all these new possibilities about things i have seen a thousand times over but never thought to question myself!

[@carmengisele5135]

wait, something makes sense so if sun brothers represents mondstadt/ liyue/ sumeru / fontaine and 3 moon sisters and one of them has a statue in inazuma !!!!!!! means the other 2 should be in natlan and snezhnaya??? interesting.

[@vickilenoir8683]

Oooh, and how about that theory that the tsarist is the moon sister who fell in love???

[@amouramarie]

I recently did the world quests in the desert and noticed the similarity between Deshret's four-pointed square and Zhongli's jacket symbol, and wished there was an Ashikai video on it. XD Zhongli being one of the old god-kings is an interesting theory to chew on. Hopefully we'll get more info when/if Remuria is released.

[@radiantbunny]

Funfact about Zhongli and the bovine references- While it's hard to say how lore-relevant the ascension gemstone names are given they have different names for both English and Chinese, the Geo Gemstone is named after Prithvi, Hindu/Vedic deity of the earth, who has a very notable myth where she turns into a cow. Notably, the team chose Prithvi over her husband, the god-king who brought money into the world. (Though, again, this could be completely random, the names are different depending on language.) Now, this normally wouldn't be that noteworthy, but combined with the other bovine references, I can't help but be a little suspicious.

[@TheJH1015]

if Decarabian and Zhongli are brothers it would also make sense that Zhongli has kind of a love-hate relationship with Venti... Venti led a rebellion against Decarabian, his brother, but also became an archon so he has to respect Venti to a degree as such. And even if Venti's rebellion was justified, it would still hurt having to work with the person that ended your brother's life...

[@thisiszof]

Egeria *is* the heart of the primordial sea. She's celestia's dupe of it to replace the sovereign because without the heart there would be no life, but she's essentially created of the same core of the hydro sovereign, that's why she was able to create oceanids, but not humans.

[@Azzywrld224]

Hearing “Neuvilette was killed” really rubs me the wrong way.. probably because I like him so much 😂

[@ArtesiusGaming]

Idk why but I felt the need to point out. Ashikai mentions Guizhong might come from the chasm. I see at 14:05 that her sleeves glow with the same starry pattern as paimon’s cape and Dain’s and Skirk’s outfit. Hmmm