[4.2] Archon + Patch Recap and Analysis - Genshin Impact Lore & Theories

[@Ashikai]

You can learn more about the REDMAGIC 9 Pro gaming phone here: redmagic.gg/pages/redmagic-9-pro-launch **NOTES & CORRECTIONS** - The line at 42:00 "I am become death, destroyer of worlds" is from Oppenheimer, but @dotkiarika1026 pointed out that Oppenheimer was actually referencing the Hindu poem Baghavad Gita. I actually like this line MORE now because it ties together all the Arkhium stuff going on in Fontaine (which is a very explicit reference to nuclear development) and Rene's whole death, rebirth and the understanding of the "self" themes! - @Mar-lf3ni pointed out that if you do the Narzissenkreuz questline BEFORE the archon quest, you get some dialog changes wherein Rene and Jakob are aware that the prophecy is coming but hasn't happened yet. I personally did the AQ first so I did not get these lines, but you can see them on the wiki.

[@LuisHernandez-yy4yv]

It feels so good to hear your voice after so long. I couldn't catch the last stream because of exams but I am happy that I can finally enjoy one of your vids again! Thank you for all the work you put into!

[@deepprakashamin9129]

Wait so I have question if I understood it correctly. From what I watched it seems like Celestia had nothing to do or won't do anything even if human furina told it to other ppl. What was the reason of hiding it and inturn suffering. It means that was totally unnecessary 👀. Sorry If I am totally off here and missed something. Please guys I am civil here 😢

[@TheBuldog]

@@deepprakashamin9129 It actually had a reason: if Furina's identity came out, Celestia would notice it and get interested in what Focalors is doing. This would result in punishment for her plans of destroying Divine Throne.

[@deepprakashamin9129]

@TheBuldog how ?? From video it seemed like it was "Warning" on what will come eventually and Celestia had no intention to do anything. So even if she told someone it would have actually done nothing and the things would have happened exactly as planned

[@shinobimanexe]

Ahhhh I wish I could afford one! It cost as much as my rent!!!

[@ririurbestie4life]

I'M A SIMPLE WOMAN I SEE ASHIKAI I CLICK

[@clover.8147]

YES, SAME

[@Azzywrld224]

Real

[@zodiactime7730]

SAME

[@OneRadicalDreamer]

I'M NOT A WOMAN BUT I WILL BE IF IT MEANS I CAN ALSO CLICK

[@umbrie2286]

YUUUUPP

[@doveevalyn4776]

Ashikai breaking down lore for me is always a treat. Ive got two brain cells left fighting over third place, so Ashikai making it more digestible is greatly appreciated.

[@Ravenna.E.Blackbird]

"I've got two brain cells left fighting over third place" is *such a mood* 🥴

[@kevinl4837]

This is actually such a good analogy

[@crowkoraki6910]

I will steal this 😆😆😆😆

[@Mar-lf3ni]

26:59 I think it's pretty important to point out that if you do the final act of Narzissenkreuz quest BEFORE act V the story completely changes as both Jakob and René are aware of the upcoming prophecy plus Renè KNOWS ABOUT THE NARWHAL, and he also tells us in advance that the cause of the primordial water rising is also consequence of this star beast

[@KingofBlah37]

I was wondering about that as I was going through the quest. It's pretty cool that they took that into account. If you do it in this order, does any dialogue in the Archon Quest change as a result? Obviously cutscenes and the general order of events can't change, but do the Traveler and Paimon have any lines where they acknowledge that they learned about things from Rene?

[@avidficreader5040]

The dialogue is the same if you do Algae Sea quest after the Archon Quest. I guess Jakob is a bit out of touch with the news.

[@yveltalsea]

someone recently explained the honkai impact plot to me, and it sounds like they added just as much meaningless random gibberish and cool sounding phrases to genshin as well haha

[@nexaaaaaaa]

​@@avidficreader5040 this made me laugh

[@beashemmad.sayson545]

@@yveltalseanaur

[@v.v365]

“What the traveler sees is basically the truth” relates back to how not even Paimon or Nahida, the two with the traveler at the moment, remembered Rukhadevata, only the Traveler remembers her after she’s wiped from Irminsul

[@kattynia5956]

and right after that they blocked Traveller to see the Focalors. I don't understand how it works here :(

[@rainblue4789]

​@@kattynia5956 what do you mean? they weren't present to see focalors, they were inside furina's head at the time "seeing the truth" doesn't make traveler omniscient, they're a witness, they don't know what they don't see

[@kattynia5956]

@rainblue4789 that's what I'm talking about. Traveller was in Furina's mind, they didn't see the truth (Neuvilette saw the truth). So it's strange after what Nicole told us

[@Xelluse]

@@kattynia5956 Not really, Traveler also got his truth, but from the perspective of Furina, Focalors on the other hand had much more important conversation with Neuvillette and not with Traveler, and Traveler still experienced the truth, but the truth is affected with perspective, NIcole never said that Traveler will see, witness and/or know Everything. Also - “What the traveler sees is basically the truth” - does not mean that everything that Traveller do not see is not, but when Traveler have different sources the most reliable is Traveler and what he/she sees, but many things are happening without Traveller witnessing it.

[@fencerderio9814]

I just hope Natlan’s Archon Quest is just as good as Fontaine’s.

[@Zarozian]

I hope it is better than Fontaine's and morbidly dark.

[@dou5397]

i hope its better, act 3,2 and 5 had a lot of problems that can be improved

[@JerryMouse.]

It’s a nation of DRAGON and WAR expect some bloody scenes.

[@saiprasad3584]

I can already see it being a banger dw

[@boshlovely2002]

⁠@@JerryMouse.Inazuma was also in a war and had the Archon as the main antagonist and we still saw nothing all that morbid (exception is the world quest with Ruu) I reallly hope they hit Natlan out of the park, story 10/10, characters 10/10, just everything 10/10

[@hijinks1546]

Just to note Ashi. Nahida says in her voiceline about Furina that the Prophecy of Fontaine was carved into Irminsul a long time ago. So it seems like Celestia wanted to guide them to this conclusion instead of a warning.

[@WarGodV_]

Yep, otherwise focalor won't have blamed Celestia for the prophecy.

[@Afbuster]

Nahida is our most reliable source of Irminsul know-how, but that doesn't mean she can't be wrong, she doesn't know how Celestia works either. And also, prophecy being carved into Irminsul doesn't have to mean it was by Celestia's will that it happened. Mayhaps it was Fate itself that carved the prophecy into Irminsul.

[@Farah-x8e3r]

⁠@@Afbuster it’s not just Nahida all other archons doesn’t seem to be a fan of them either especially focalor and they are responsible of the fate system in teyvat in some way by the stolen authorities I guess that’s why neuvilette was able to reverse the events when he got his powers back

[@firephoenix8192]

I thought that the current order/fate of Tevyat can't be changed as Gnosis are symbol of law and order. It's only when Focalors broke the order that it was possible to alter the fate... The fate here being the survival of Fontainians.

[@MiyuKawasaki]

Yup Nahida has definitely been wrong before. Even after dottore told her about descenders, nahida still said 'There's only one possible solution: Your sibling belongs to this world.' Which scaramouche refuted in Inversion of Genesis. (The reason why there are records of Irminsul of your sibling is because the heavens responded to the summoning'@@Afbuster

[@waawaa7788]

i have to say the chicken mushroom skewer and kaeya connection came outta nowhere. i laughed but when you explained about sinthe/absinthe and his fav drink, that made me go "...we truly live in kaeya impact"

[@Shogun_A.I.]

I swear to Ei, if the sinner is a time displaced Kaeya, I'm gonna.... Probably like him even more tbh

[@wheattins9250]

Honestly, I was never satisfied with the narrative that the prophecy was enacted as a punishment by Celestia for Egeria’s actions and that the narwhal just happened to be the cause for the prophecy. Ashikai’s idea that Celestia was powerless against the narwhal who was attracted to the Primordial sea due to Egeria’s tampering and simply issued the prophecy as a warning makes so much more sense so I’m accepting this as canon.

[@Aoijinsei]

I like how you're thinking. Going from your logic, and going from the logic of other mythological lore concerning prophesy, perhaps Celestia was wise enough to understand each and every instance of what would happen as a result of Egeria's action because to Celestia, it was all predictable that the actions would follow according the predictable nature of the world and it's people. Just like how in god of war, prophesy was just an incredible understanding of people's natural tendencies.

[@Xelluse]

Agree, there were a lot of clues that this prophecy was not about punishment, but more about a consequence and maybe warning, also it makes me think about Kaenri'an events and blaming Celestia, so when specific people or notes are blaming Celestia, can we 100% trust what was told to us or this is s.c. - Perspective of an Observer ? When told story of a person is not actually a lie, but is told in the perspective of that person and is not accurate in everything.

[@jennycatmystique7139]

Yes agreed, I've been wondering for a long time if the "punishments" were more just... consequences of their own actions, rather than actual punishments doled out by celestia. It really makes me curious about the whole "the arrogation of mankind ends now" line... Was that a red herring, or was that in relation to something completely different? Another theory I saw that I could vibe with a bit was that the prophecy was handed down- but HOW the prophecy came about wasnt the important part, only that it would happen. Kind of reminiscent of the vase scene from wanderers story. it didnt matter what power knocked over the vase; in the end, the vase was fated to break. So celestia handed down the prophecy that the people of fontaine would dissolve in a great flood, but the whale ended up just becoming the catalyst for that event. If it wasn't the whale, it would have been something different... especially considering the whole narzissenkreuz plan was to save all of fontaine by... dissolving them... In dramatic irony, that would have also made the prophecy come to pass.

[@TheCsel]

I feel like prophecy are like the path of least resistance for causality. Celestia locked a couple steps on the tablets and end result as fact. And that was the easiest path for reality to take, maybe the whale could sense that and just went with the flow and current of reality.

[@Xelluse]

@@jennycatmystique7139 Btw, about Arrogation of the man kind, that line is even more sus in Chinese, cos it sounds more like - 外来之人 Alein to something, rather than Outlander, also when she says Mankind, she uses the word - 「人之子」Child of Man or Creation of Man, rather than Mankind, so her line sounds more like - - "Alien creatures/things to this world your journey ends here..... The arrogation of Child/Creation of Men ends now...." Yes, technically it can be translated as Outlanders and Mankind, but very strange that they used such words in Chinese rather than other which fit more and are more common..... Also Traveler literally says that they are actual Stars with sibling, so why they are Alien is understandable, but why was used specifically Children/Creation of Men ? If they were actual fallen stars then someone created humans from them, like Morax made Ajdaha from a Crystal ?.... Idk, just very sus line....

[@IronAmethyst]

I think Arlecchino is behind the flooding of Poisson. If not directly the cause of it, she at least knew it was going to happen and waited out to appear to the rescue, to have leverage in the negotiations for the gnosis. And she executed it brilliantly. And everyone bought it, just as Hoyoverse intended. It fits well with what Childe and Scaramouche are saying about her too. We know the Fatui can dig big tunnels, we seen em do it for transporting a whole house with us. We also know the Fatui have been monitoring the waters. They either caused it (a bang was heard, tremors) or they knew it was going to happen and transported equipment for the rescue closer to the scene. I am not saying she is outright evil, rather choosing few casualties for the greater good. Also how convenient for her, to direct us to those slates, with one missing, to be pronto found by Freminet once needed. Another debt owed. She is a cunning manipulator, always mentioning the children to us, trying to gain trust, and it seems she succeeded 😇 Cant wait for her release patch, we are in for a treat

[@usalisa3656]

I agree, because we really didn't see much of her "traitor" personality like Childe and Scara describe her as. She was much nicer than depicted, and it feels definitely unnatural.

[@passwordyeah729]

@@usalisa3656 Agreed. Will be waiting for Arlecchino's other shoe to drop in future patches.

[@JoshuaB1194]

The confirmation Bias is strong in this one, I see. 🤔🤔🤔

[@elizabethkblanco4620]

This is what makes the Knave so terrifying.

[@robert2german]

Genshin Impact lore is like a freaking kaleidoscope; you take another look and there is just MORE.

[@alejandraruiz5031]

The Kaeya connections are absolutely SENDING me and I hope to the archons that it actually amounts to something. 🤣

[@iPete93]

I think the whole "his favorite drink is spiked with diluted Primordial Sea Water" is kinda stretching it? Maybe the original recipe called for it (and Navia's "uncle" who died in Act II rediscovered some ancient recipe for Sinthe and reused it to collect more data for his fucked-up experiments), but the current-day version uses some substitute for it. Otherwise everyone who consumes the stuff on a regular basis would have developed some sort of latent Hydro affinity, like we see what happens to the Traveler after ingesting it.

[@10nahidu27]

Actually people are saying that this move of the All-Devouring Narwhal is it interfering with Childe’s fate, and also making him unable to use his vision. But sure his constellation could be based on this Narwhal assuming he got his vision while he was still in the abyss (I don’t remember his vision story)

[@Shepard-l3z]

His vision story doesnt exist thats why you cant remember it

[@bonk8311]

There’s so much we still don’t know abt Childe and hoyo is probably gonna make us wait until snezhnaya to know more abt him 😭

[@Nobody_Fn_Important]

well at the end of the narwhal fight didn't we give him back his Vision? because I do not have it anymore, instead I got something like primordial tear or something. so he does have his Vision now, he's just busy doing what he loves best. fighting and proving he's the best fighter out there.

[@user-biscut]

​@@Nobody_Fn_Importantwe gave it to Arlecchino.

[@Nobody_Fn_Important]

@@user-biscut really? hmmm thought it was to Childe before he went back through the gate, or to Skirk, thanks for the refresher.

[@itsmehenrii]

I think someone might’ve pointed this out already but the thing with memories becoming books and vice versa might be a nod to what Nahida does with the memories registered in the irminsul, like she did with the memories of wanderer.

[@heavenschickxx6376]

was VERY nice when i realised your 4.1 theory was almost spot on the mark. i was like “wait a second, aside from not being eidolons, ashikai got the premise perfect.” well done from a dedicated subscriber!

[@megamcee]

Ok, that last connection was INSANE. Mihoyo are freaking crazy to make a silly joke that links to enormous potential revelations and hints.

[@devennent5575]

There is one thing that's felt really strange about Rene's world formula and the way the Ordo quest line resolved. Namely, I don't think there's any mention of the destruction Rene was trying to avoid being limited to Fontaine. Some of his notes also talk about the cycle of destruction of the world, and how this will be the last one. It feels greater than the Fontaine crisis.

[@AstraLuna-o9i]

Yeah that’s what I thought too. That the destruction cycle applied to Teyvat as a whole and not just Fontaine and the primordial sea stuff.

[@krasusable]

@@AstraLuna-o9i And that this was the fourth samsara/age... immediately reminds me of the trial characters we get in their respective quests/hangout... they had the Noblesse Oblige artifact set, set at talent level 8... and Constellation 3.

[@pipedream2556]

Yeah honestly the whole revelation of "the world has ended 4 times before every few hundered years" thing was weird for several reasons - its in an optional world quest you could easily just...not do even though this is apparently major history for all of Teyvat. Major history that nobody else has ever mentioned or apparently known about even though we've met beings that are THOUSANDS of years old in spite of the fact that the notes specify a timescale in the hundreds of years meaning characters like Zhongli have theoretically lived through multiple apocalypses and just...didn't mention it before? And then there's the fact that all of these past worlds were apparently unified civilisations with a single name able to refer to everyone who was wiped out by that apocalypse, yet one of those names was just...Ancient Fontaine? Only? It's not like it was the equivalent of IRL Rome with remnants lf its history being found even today in all sorts of countries, no, Remuria is not a word that existed in the game before Fontaine came out, the scope of that kingdom is JUST those lands. If its end is to be considered the end of a world, then either those visions catastrophised like crazy and its actually more a case of a single civilisations ending, or there were literally no other civilisations around when Remuria, and previously, the other civilisations mentioned, were around (which, again, doesnt make sense with the timeline!)

[@sthezh]

the fact that the ordo relates to at least 2 of the harbingers (sandrone/arlechino) and possibly even dottore too is kinda insane. it honestly seems to be pointing towards the idea that those who know about the true nature of teyvat always somehow end up in the fatui, even more recently the traveler. the ordo has been the only other organization than the fatui that has attempted to attain the power of a descender, the former using the sword of narcizzenkreuz and the latter collecting the gnosis to possibly revive the third descender.

[@Catdogomeow]

The idea of Sandrone being the giant robot and the girl being the real marionette was something i didn’t see coming and yet very plausible

[@ThisNameMakesNoSense]

This patch was an absolute banger. Thank you for timing the upload with the game's downtime too!

[@leocall7173]

It's really interesting to compare sumeru to fontaine, where in sumeru they prided themselves on never dreaming and fontaine, there's a lot of getting lost in one's dreams.

[@Zarozian]

Longer and longer videos is what we like. u wu I am surprised you didn't go into detail about the existence of Pashiv! Her name spelled backwards is Vishap!

[@Dubu_Mandu]

Freminet's event made me cry seeing him call out to his mom was so emotional and It made me feel so happy for her

[@ahmadmirzatappi8142]

i still cant believe that youve basically nailed it on the head on your furina's secret theory, it as if i was spoiled for 4.2 before it even exists :v

[@YuriVoltre]

I wonder how Foul's Legacy is related to Surtalogi the Foul. Does it simply resemble him, or does the abyssal power Childe uses come from Surtalogi himself? I loved the Narzissenkreuz Ordo and their weird esoteric and occult society theme.

[@rainblue4789]

it just sounds like a namesake to me at the moment, like how discoveries are named after the person who founded it, "foul" is the technique's name from "the foul" but im sure HYV will go deeper than that because they love complex lore

[@kirkshanghai]

Surtalogi is the nordic name for the fire of Surtr that will destroy the world. I think he is planning on doing something that will completely destroy Teyvat, Celestia, or the Abyss.

[@DavidSilverthorn]

Very excited for the Narsissenkreuz full questline video, the whole thing was so well done but had so many little notes all over that I feel I probably missed a lot of lore.

[@kirkshanghai]

That's why I love ashikai. It's kinda hard to focus on world quests with no voices, especially when there is lots of "notes-lore", but I am still interested

[@Chareddragon]

Actually Meluse and Silver didn’t get the collective to reject Navia. Rather they bought time for Neuvillette to stop the trial and save her.

[@spiderdude2099]

The Thelxie event was so beautiful, I cried.

[@Firefly_night]

Fremi event was hitting hard and beautifuly for me at this time ... As someone whos living in a situation that is .. To put it lightly . Terffying. The way the nevigate and dealth with mantel health in this event felt so right and beautiful .. I dont know how it will end for me , but im greatful for hoyo for letting mr escape to thier beautiful world when my own isnt. Sending love for everyone who deals with something similiar 😔💙

[@defiantmars9910]

Great recap. I didn’t realize there was more Ordo quest after the Lyris-Ann stuff. I would like to put out the friendly reminder to those that may be unaware; Oppenheimer was referencing the Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism with that quote. If memory serves, Vishnu states the “I am become death.” line when confronting a prince. Vishnu, being the preserver of the principal deities in that belief system.

[@reveriesend4668]

You know: that I think of it, the reverse method of seeing the title might have been a hint towards the nature of light vs dark, Tevyat vs Abyss. Another way to see it is, instead, the reverse method is only true because of the nature of water that reflects light. Mona's hydromancy works this way, basically: she sees someone's fate by seeing their reflection via her astrolabe. (That's why in her idle animation, she turns around her hydromancy upside down).

[@Xelluse]

Teyvat is not realm of light, from Apep we already have confirmation that Teyvat is out from Abyssal (Void Realm) and Elemental (The Light Realm, also known as the realm of the elements and the Vishap Realm) realms. In simple - in Genshin are three realms: 1 - the elemental Light Realm 2 - the abyssal Void Realm 3 - the Human Realm created by the Primordial One

[@reveriesend4668]

@@Xelluse sorry, you might need to remind me of that. I don't remembed Apep saying it that way exactly.

[@AnonymousInternetUserLaine]

Ashikai on her way to lose her sanity for our sake

[@Mohammadatwrk]

Something interesting i noticed is that during the loading screen it says that the fisherman in mondsatsd tells a tale about a giant Whale, I wonder if it was foreshadowing or just added recently

[@catsarecute-rw7zv]

The one guy at the beginning of the Fontaine quest revealed the entire plot. During the Pocket distribution, one guy turned it down, and proceeded to tell you a legend of the entire plot of the main story--it just sounded so silly you didn't believe him. Hoyo doesn't need to hide the true story, it's just so insane no one normal would believe it for a moment.

[@effortlessfury]

A thought on the Sunflowers. That fact that there was one growing where the dog was located makes me think there is a connection between the two. Well, if we combine that with the possibility that the Sunflowers represent healing, that would mean that there may be some connection between people and healing properties...and then I remembered that Rukkhadevata's solution to healing Irminsul was using the Dreams of the people of Sumeru. Additionally, once those Dreams were returned to them, anyone afflicted with Eleazar was healed...or rather, I believe their Dreams allowed them to heal themselves. This likely ties back to Jnana Energy (which IIRC we have gotten little to nothing on), Makoto's interest in the power of Dreams to fuel Ambitions...I've long speculated that Dreams are what are powering Visions and perhaps even limiting an Allogene's ability to influence the world with the raw power of their Dreams. I've got a lot of ideas kicking around in here but I'm now very suspicious of this whole Sunflower thing.

[@starbandit1851]

Sunflowers?

[@effortlessfury]

@@starbandit1851 thank you for the correction, she said dandelion at one point, I think, and I didn't think too hard about it

[@jelinlikeafelin]

Great video as always Ashikai! Two thoughts I had this patch that you might find interesting: 1) I think Focalors only had to create Furina due to a minor timing issue. Like, Focalors could have done everything Furina did herself, except that Focalors had to die before the flood , and the "archon" had to be crying on her throne during the flood, hence the need for a second "archon." This also relates to my general confusion about what exactly people meant by "deceiving the heavenly principles", but I think that's supposed to be somewhat ambiguous at this point. 2) I think it's probably the case that being a Oceanid-person was 100% matrilineal. When the mother is an Oceanid, the baby is coming from the fountain, so it shouldn't really matter if the father is human. When the mother is human, the father just needs to contribute some genetic information, which might not violate the "Oceanids cannot reproduce" rule. Another possibility is that an Oceanid & human couple couldn't reproduce just like an Oceanid & Oceanid couple, but could pray at the fountain (unclear if a human mother could carry an Oceanid though I suppose). Regardless, no half Oceanids.

[@flamesfury]

I dunno, if there are no half-Oceanids then Lynette and Lyney wouldn't make sense right? Why would Lynette have catperson genes while Lyney, despite being her twin, not gain those genes as well? There must be some dominant/recessive genes at work there which means at least one parent must have contributed oceanid genes into the mix which is why they are in danger of dissolving. You could argue that Lynette only takes the form of a catperson but then that still means Lyney just doesn't get those traits for basically no reason right?

[@jelinlikeafelin]

​@@flamesfury well, but they were both full-Oceanids right? I think the fountain probably did something analogous to genetics when it created new Oceanid-people.

[@rivernlong5979]

My guess is the baby-oceanid takes on the physical characteristics imagined by the parents. In fact, that explains why Lyney *doesn't* have cat ears....@@flamesfury

[@Bianca-hw3rn]

Fontanians and oceanids are different entities, they're treated as "humans" Fontanians could have children with people from other nations. they still needed to do the "human progress" to have children.

[@galaxa13]

I desperately needed this explanation for the N. Ordo stuff. That whole questline made me very sad, but I knew most of it was going over my head.

[@AniSlayr1423]

13:35 Knowing Mandarin, I would like to correct this as the characters are not reversed per se, but read in a slightly different intonation, like how "the" can be read in different ways, as in "dee" or "da". The difference in intonation gives the characters a different meaning. Which is an even more amazing play on words by Hoyo, since it's read in almost exactly the same way whilst giving 2 different meanings as said by Ashikai.

[@idyotako]

Once again, thank you Ashikai for another great video! Fontaine up to 4.2 is essentially depression laden and full of relatable stuff. I'm gonna be glad for 4.3 coz we can go back to more happier stuff.

[@SOOP_or_SWOOP]

When Navia went on trail, I was flabbergasted and excited by the fact, that the theory was correct

[@berrybread7215]

The unsung hero of Ashi’s video is that teapot set Yanfei lives in.

[@hypercube9531]

Based on IslandXD's video referencing Wei's video about the identity of the 4 descenders, it seems to be that the war causing the Funerary year wasn't between the Primordial One and the Second Throne but rather, the coming of Nibelung as the third descender who was defeated by the Primordial one AND the Second who Came, meaning the single sentence talking about all this is really just a disjointed list of events. Then using the lore from Narzissenkreuz, where it's said that the 4 descenders have the power to Create, Sustain, Destroy and Protect, the 4 Descenders can be the Primordial One who created the new world, the Sustainer who's now actually on the side of the Primordial one, Nibelung who tried to destroy everything with abyssal powers, and finally the Traveller whos meant to protect the world. I also realised that reading the rest of the early sections of Before Sun and Moon with the disjointed list of events perspective especially highlights the part saying that the people of the sovereigns went below ground, which may seem to be referring to Khaenrians, which ties into the theory that the distinction between Khaenrians and the rest of humanity is them following the dragons as their gods. This also ties into a theory I saw about how some characters, eg Klee, Layla, were thought of as classic fantasy elves, but may actually just be humans with dragon blood, a more diluted form of the people we might encounter in Natlan. I'm also now leaning towards thinking that Khaenrians may also be of this variety, considering their star shaped eyes which are kind of like Neuvillette's eyes, and also the fact that Alberich is a dwarf name from Nibelungenleid, and Nibelung, Dvalin and Durin all have Dwarf names too, which may indicate that dwarves in genshin represent anyone with a draconic nature. This also may indicate that the pale princess and the six pygmies is about 6 of dragon sovereigns as opposed to the Tsaritsa and the 6 other Archons, but I'm still not entirely sure what that would mean, and who the Pale Princess would be in that situation.

[@maximobravo4030]

Nice recap, and just in time for 4.3 too. Thanks! Btw, I may be misremembering, but I think that during the 4.0 stream when the creators talked about their inspirations for the look of Fontaine, they mentioned that Van Gogh's paintings were one them as well as other famous paintings by european artists. So the reason for all the sunflowers, or at least the meta-reason, should be their prevalence in Gogh's paintings rather than their relationship to radiation.

[@TheCsel]

I would like to know more about the Visionary. It can’t be a coincidence that Mona mentions to read the fate of the world you’d need to be a visionary, and then Skirk name drops Visionary as well.

[@baguette_connoisseur]

I just find it funny how Focalors' death is an allegory to the French Revolution. • Archon is decapitated, and the regime is changed from Archon rule to no Archon rule as a result. • Monarch is decapitated, and the regime is changed from Monarchy to Republic. The crown falling in that death cutscene... symbolising the fall of the French monarchy.

[@joziah7128]

Narzissenkreuz story quest was amazing. I like how once I got to the Ordo place I realized there were like six quests tied to that one place.

[@TheCsel]

In the Villains world quest surprisingly Paimon trying to sell her bath water is canon. But it also brought up some interesting ideas about other worlds

[@Allex1342]

Fontaine’s Archon Quest Arc Has Become My New Favorite Out Of All The Others And Furina’s Character Quest Is Now My New Favorite Of All Of The Characters Fontaine Delivered! ❤🎉

[@driplord6150]

44:01 is this why Keaya is so laid-back, bros signature dish are basically edibles😂😂😂

[@mossy1476]

I really appreciate your view of Furina's story quest. When I was playing it I was extremely disappointed at the way it ended. At the time I saw it as her being forced into a position where she had to disregard her one big boundary. But your recap made me think and (while I personally think it might've been better if this was done later on/made clear in the quest that some time had passed between the end of the archon quest and the start of the story quest) I think you're right. so thank you for showing a different perspective! I also skipped through the first 2 parts of Freminet's event story. when I realised it was about something depression adjacent, I was very hesitant. Previously when hoyo has tried to cover things like chronic illness and disability, they've sadly stepped into some ableist tropes. (as someone who deals with a chronic disability, and who has had a depression, I was very scared something similar was going to happen). But after hearing so many people talking about how good it was I decided to give it a read through and finish the last part and I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually done pretty well and with quite some tact. I'm very happy I was wrong about it.

[@milnechi]

if the Hydro dragon's authority controls the Primordial Sea, I wonder if Apep was the true guardian of the Irminsul as well, not Rukkhadevata. and that's why the Withering started to affect Irminsul bec Apep was tainted by Deshret's forbidden knowledge. (not sure if Ashikai covered this already). Rukkhadevata and Egeria basically had the same thoughts on how to save their countries: do their thing but never informing their successors what the plan is until the last minute 😅

[@prakharmathur9453]

I would love if you could discuss the implications of Rene calling us "the designer". Witness is familiar, and from there one can see the name recorder as well. But designer, afaik, is a first.

[@kirkshanghai]

I think it's kinda straightforward-- since he knows we aren't from Teyvat, he also knows we operate outside the laws of this world, allowing us to "redesign" things like people's fates.

[@canaldecasta]

Gods, dragons and aliens fighting to rule the land as they see fit. Xinyan max crit damage: 🗿

[@DonKangolJones]

A perfect way to kill time while I wait for the new patch.

[@tiff7329]

When I first heard Neuvillette discuss the vishaps evolving and coexisting with humanity, I theorized/thought that it was another instance of what happened in Enkanomiya with their vishap people.

[@SlainByTheWire]

I know it's just an ad, but you did a good job at it. You should think about maybe doing phone reviews the help the people playing Genshin on their phone choose a new one. I'm not a moblie gamer myself but I think they'd appreciate that.

[@Kurogane3]

With regards to Sandrone. I find it iteresting that if Sandrone is indeed Alain Guillotin then it would nicely tie into the end of the questioning melusine quest. Cause I was wondering why would Sandrone be so friendly to us when we literally never met. But imagine this: If Sandrone is Alain, then we basically: -Saved his nation from destruction -Beat his childhood friends turned rivals turned enemies turned indirect murderers of his sister -Gave a happy end to his sister's memories fused with Lyris This would be more than enough to indebt Sandrone to us and cut out the guy's tongue once She learned that he tried to kill us...

[@circIing]

Love yr recaps!!! Thank u for covering the Narzissenkreuz quests also !!! It's one of my favorites

[@devennent5575]

It's very interesting that Rene implies he tried to fill in the role of a descender. The idea of "a will that rivals the entire world," really springs to mind. He tried to tether himself to the info-storm of the Primordial Sea, and the pseudo-space in his journal is also implied to be sustained by his power of will, as it begins disintegrating once he loses the strength he gained. There's a lot to chew on here.

[@vanessachowjiaying4423]

To add the fact the traveller is the 4th descender is tied to Genshin's initial title as Honkai 4. Initially that title was made to be the 4th entry of the Honkai franchise, though CN fans proposed Genshin as the new title.

[@eleanorkim07]

I usually don't pay attention to many event quests. Sometimes I just zone out during the event quests and speedrun the whole thing for the rewards. But I'm glad I paid attention to the Thelxie event. It was so therapeutic to me too.

[@invisible9445]

“These two dandelions that appeared out of nowhere” Going feral. tearing my hair out. Shaking the bars of my enclosure.

[@Jeskgames]

This was so well articulated and analyzed! I don’t have time to play through all the quests and love these summaries, breakdowns, and speculations. So well put together and presented. I also loved learning new things about the drink death afternoon (fun fact if I remember correctly, it was one of Ernest Hemmingway’s favorite drinks). And also loved learning about sunflowers and radiation! So cool! Thank you for putting videos like this together.

[@inigocraft2446]

Some people really got mad at paimon during Furina’s story quest because she was being insensitive to Furina’s trauma but depressed people shouldn’t give up what they love you shouldn’t isolate yourself loneliness and a boring life will bring you nothing and getting Furina out of her shell was an important step to help her and by the end against her will she is broken out of her shell

[@Zarozian]

Whoa Ashikai hand reveal! Congrats on getting a sponsor! I am so happy for yah! ;>

[@matharism]

This video was really good! I loved the connection you presented between the Freminet event and the Curve quest

[@King_Tap]

i love her character cause she is basically an “absurd hero” coined by albert camus. while she had to play the role of an archon for the whole 500 years she was basically sisyphus in rolling the boulder up the mountain every single day without knowing when it’ll stop and she had to continue day after day. she had to roll up a boulder every single day never reaching the end at the top at the day and had to keep it up for her nation. while do alors is like zeus and the greek gods who cursed sisyphus. how funny that albert camus is also french, albeit french algerian, it’s like mihoyo got inspiration from him to create an absurd hero.

[@felipecarvalho864]

Gosh, i was LONGING for a new videoooooo, finally 😍😍😍😍 ashikai u the best 🫶🏻

[@deannadeutsch3887]

i think Curve is a Pinocchio reference. Pinocchio is trying to become a "real boy" while Curve is trying to become a "real" human. To achieve their goals Pinocchio must learn to be honest and always tell the truth, which Curve must learn to lie and know when lieing can be used for something good. It does make sense, in that way, at least to me.

[@Afbuster]

You mention prophecy being warning and not punishment, and the thing about this idea is that Celestia didn't have to be involved in that part at all - all you need is a Visionary who had read the stars and boom, you have a prophecy, a warning. It's kinda amazing that the story that most directly blames Celestia for something is also the one where we really can write them out off it and not lose anything - they really are good at preserving Heavenly Principles as the main mystery box of the game. And also, it feels like what Nicole said can be interpreted two ways. There are things gods don't see yes, and the main interpretation here is that things outside of gods' sight can be changed - Focalors _did_ change fate! Or maybe, there are things that gods can't see - unavoidable fate that is bound to happen, but is too secret to even be inscribed into Irminsul. Nicole did say after all, Fate is our only guide and we only need to do our part. Is Irminsul just a fate-reading device? Does it not _bind_ people to their fates, but merely predicts and warns? And it imperfect, therefore there is part of fate it can't predict? 🤔

[@kirkshanghai]

I know I'm not adding much here, but I have believed since literally day 1 that the overarching theme of the entirety of the game, start to finish, will have to do with the concept of rewriting one's fate and once we get our endgame answers to Celestia/Khanreiah's mysteries, the central theme will be fate, or the lack thereof.

[@ucmanhle9601]

If compared to a computer, I'd say Irminsul is the memory, the database containing all past and present. What predict fate is the Heavenly Principle, equivalent to the CPU. It reads all the data in Irminsul and processes out the endless possibilities, the possibilities that always show up would then be called "fate".

[@jessstarborn4928]

Perfect timing as watching your video will make time pass easier as the maintenance takes place! Great time for theory company!

[@bluecat3338]

Not me going “oh yeah I’ve def finished all those quests, no spoilers here for me” and then finding out from the video that I’m only part way through, like, half the world quests

[@mehulchandrakar436]

i had some questions after the quest- 1) what do people of fontaine think how they were saved ? did they believe that the prophecy was wrong, or do they know neuvilete is ancient dragon and he saved them and do they know about fosalor and furina's sacrifice 2) if people don't know about furina's sacrifice do they see her as a fraud?

[@mochimonika]

Thanks for another video! That Kaeya bit in the end may or may not have broken me :D

[@Eb-sq3jd]

Nice to know that Kayea is even more sus then ever-before

[@devilchildmike4]

at around 29:30, and thinking about Cater almost saying the dog's name. Which kinda melds with the Furina C5, "His name I now know,...", which makes me wonder if there may be further ties.

[@KurtacusRex]

Food for thought, with the gnosis-free character world quests rapidly increasing in relevance, Dains question from Act 2 has come to mind: who do the gods prioritize, those with visions or those without? It could be argued this is foreshadowing Furina. Further, I suspect it's a direct reference to the characters we have split paths with. i.e. jeht, the bottom of the chasm, etc. It appears the visionless NPC story quests consistently vanish into the abyss. Literally. it keeps happening. So i see two story paths. The main archon storyline, which points towards the tsaritsa and Celestia, and EVERY vision-free world quest points straight to the abyss. it's a weird organizational pattern, and I very much suspect it's deliberate. In that context, the Dain's question changes. which plotline matters more? Are we going to have to choose narratively between the Jeht's and Navia's? I suspect a route 3 is cooking in the background; between the treasure hoarders, keya, and Dain's comments about humanity, there is room for a "human independence" faction. This is aligning the former human independance faction (khanriah) with the abyss, which may or may not have been a valid statement prior to the cataclysm. I emphasize that the sustainer didn't stop the cataclysm; it stopped "Human Arrogation."

[@themasterdou]

What an amazing recap, keep up the awesome work Ashikai!

[@jessstarborn4928]

I really love the idea of the girl Marionette is holding being modelled after Mary Ann.

[@TheCodaCrew]

Id love to see Ashikai voice a character in Genshin in the future. Such a soothing voice of a similar caliber to Zhongli and Neuvliette.

[@erikboncoref.7020]

37:37 actually, it is said that Carl Jung used the fantasies of their patients as part of their therapy to bring them back to reality. There's a documented event in which one of his associates was particularly troubled with a patient, who was deeply depressed and thought that she was living on the Moon. Jung's response was "of course, because she _is_ in the Moon right now; we must bring her back to Earth". Later, by roleplaying with her illusion (always therapeutically), he could heal her.

[@eiko1490]

Listening to Ashikai dissecting lore and forming theory is such a treat. 😊

[@flamesfury]

Gotta point this out but it makes no sense if Celestia's prophecy is only a warning instead of a punishment to Egeria because that makes the entire point of Focalors hiding to trick the Heavenly Principles completely worthless. Without the prophecy Focalors wouldn't need to split herself and could have openly gathered the energy and just not told anyone about it and use it when the time was right. Celestia would have to have made it specifically to force the current Archon to take the punishment directly. You could argue that they definitely wouldn't want her to destroy the Throne but at the time the prophecy was made there was no plan for that yet and if they predicted that beforehand then her hiding wouldn't have worked in the first place.

[@kirkshanghai]

Not to mention, why else would the game directly tell us earlier in that same archon quest (with N's voice lines) that the gods have blind spots where one can avoid "fate"?

[@erikastauffer8021]

@Ashikai Your videos always have quality summaries and analyses, and I love how good you are at sorting out the info that matters from extraneous stuff, both in-game and out. Thank you so much! Such a joy to watch. I've been studying Genshin from a different angle, looking at its literary themes to see what it's saying to modern audiences. Your chicken mushroom skewers connected to some of that, so I thought I'd share. If that's alright. Chicken mushroom skewers, a reference to Kaeya, are brought up in the Narssizenkreuz quest. The quest includes a story of heroes using a Holy Sword to slay a dragon. Kaeya is from Mondsdadt, the Prologue, where we get to decide if we're going to slay or save the attacking dragon. Once we meet Dainsleif, we realize that the Abyss Twin is a metaphorical dragon that needs either slaying or saving. But which one? Back to Kaeya and swords. The Holy Blade of Narssizenkreuz is a nothing-much that ends up with the ability to split wills. In Kaeya's story quest, he gives us a nothing-much sword called a Harbinger of Dawn. A bringer of hope. Does it bring hope by splitting the Abyss from the Twin? Is Kaeya gonna be the key to saving, and not slaying, the dragon? How? No idea, but not done yet. The sword is a Harbinger of Dawn. And like you've said, Genshin loves it some puns. If the fan theory is true that Crepus is the missing 10th Fatui Harbinger, he's also the former owner of Dawn Winery, so that makes Crepus the Harbinger of Dawn. Still not done. Super tin hat here, but Diluc's alternate outfit looks a lot like a Fatui agent, and Arlecchino's outfit also reminded me of it, what with the eyes on the front. Could . . . Diluc be the Harbinger of Dawn, the key to saving and not slaying the Abyss Twin dragon? . . . Has Nibelung possessed the Abyss Twin, and thus to save them we need to separate the twin from the dragon and slay only the actual dragon?! And both Kaeya and Diluc will be key to that? Anyway. No idea, but this was a fun thought train to explore. Thank you again for all your quality work! It's been hugely helpful to me to see it. Keep being awesome.

[@WolfieCanem]

Kudos to your editor who used a VERY appropriate Persona 3 soundtrack that is related to Death. Goddamn peak editing~

[@jnliewmichael4235]

13:31 旋步舞人罪，宣布无人罪？！？！ Holy hell, I love this word play. Damn, the 2 times I saw the Chinese title, I didn't realize this. That's really cool!

[@dennisl9176]

ive been waiting for this! the theme of fiction vs reality is repeated so much throughout the fontaine world quests it was driving me crazy trying to piece it all together.

[@voidgrim6529]

A year ago, I was doing some genshin fan fiction. At that time, I thought it would be cool if there is nation of Teyvat with people living with dragon. And when I found out about Natlan, I was like "WHAT THE F-!". I swear if Natlan is somewhat on a mountain, I'll be speachless. Since, I describe it as a nation that lies on top of mountain, with dragons living with the human(The simple description for that fanfic nation for Teyvat, because the full version of the description is gone)

[@eendsofthearth]

Excellent video!!! I still don't *quite* get all of the Narzissenkreuz stuff so I'm excited for your follow up video on the entire questline

[@tktoka2306]

22:45 not only these but also if u notice her E skill summons are made of primordial water rather than just regular waters like other hydro characters which i think might be because it was granted by the hydro dragon and not an archon but that remains to be seen with future characters if they also recieve a vision from neuvelette

[@manoelafvb]

Since I've not been able to play the world quests for too long (being a mobile player makes me prioritize shorter activities etc), those patch reviews are great. Thank you so much for your amazing lore recap videos, Ashikai

[@ShadowNavi82]

I did the Narz quests before the archon quest and i like that order much better

[@jaiydiamond9785]

30:30 This actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it in the context of the Teyvat trailer when danslief is talking about the archon quest in Khaenri'ah he states "in the hidden corners where the god's gaze does not fall, there are those who dream of dreaming." The abyss is outside the gaze of the gods and is outside the jurisdiction of celestia, what if Khaenri'ah didn't get transformed into hilichurls as a punishment but rather as a consequence of trying to connect with abyss the same way that the prophecy of fontaine wasn't a punishment but rather a warning of consequences. and those who dream of dreaming were trying to connect to the abyss because the abyss is a layer outside the jurisdiction of celestia

[@senu.]

exactly what I need while waiting for 4.3 to finish download. ❤

[@nabilhusainimohdkamalulabr3088]

30:30 It's interesting that while I was finding chests using the Fontaine treasure compass, the compass could detect the location of the chests in the book space as downwards from the overworld. We also do not teleport into a separate empty map to go to the space, unlike usual domains

[@monikawischnewski]

God I cried so much at the end of Freminet's event😭

[@Bianca-hw3rn]

The fountain ritual was more like "asking permission" to reproduce, they still needed to...smash. This is more clear with Elisa's case where she got pregant of Morris even that he dind't wanted. they had an (almost) complete human body, so they still needed to do the human part in order to have a children, if it's not like that then we could see single womans with children which could be strange for them. Edit: Ik that this video was released before the event quest but still, even before people could assume that, specially since they can still reproduce with people from other nations. (E.g Kevin, child of a fontanian and a dude from snezhnaya)

[@serezelveydawn]

I wish they made Furina sing off stage instead of actually being onstage and the whole cutscene would be kind of an imagination because it's her voice. That way she's apart of the stage, she gets to perform, her voice gets the spotlight, but she doesn't have to care about how people view her.

[@ignemuton5500]

I keep wondering if the narwhal is a honkai beast, since its been confirmed that the honkai and genshin universes are somehow connected with that one snapshot of dvalin appearing in honaki impact

[@ArtanBlacknight]

44:00 Kaeya likes drinking Sinthe, who is just diluted Primordial Sea Water. I think its more of Kaeya enjoying being high, as Sinthe can induce euphoria. Maybe there was the possibility that since Fountainians were made with PSW they like having some, but that idea gets thrown out the window since Sinthe was discovered by a Schneznayan.

[@kirkshanghai]

I really wish they hadn't "upped the power level" so quickly by finally revealing Skirk and then immediately have her discuss two new people who are even more powerful than her....I think Hexenzirkel will probably be end-game most powerful people in Teyvat honestly. Also, Nordic legend says that Surtalogi is "the fire with which the giant Surtr will set the world on fire and thus destroy it." Holy shit.