Hi guys I am Inotia King a youtuber, redditor and gamer who likes theorizing about the story. I actually cobbled together a list of some of my more important theories with respect to the game Genshin Impact and Star Rail that I have been basing all of my newer theories on. I'll be putting more of those up on Hive along with new stuff but if you're impatient I also archived all my theories here. I hope some of you guys are game theorists too. Let's try to figure out these great games together!

(This theory was originally put up on reddit. It's really really long. Like so long that it was too long for reddit so I ended up breaking it up into two topics on that site. Suffice it to say there will be a summary at the end lol)

Our second to last of the nations is out now but miHoYo did something different this time. Now granted some people are still under the impression that Sumeru was also this but it's been proven enough times that that's not true. I'm talking about how Natlan is for the first time a region in Genshin that isn't based on a single real world nation. Mondstadt is medieval Germany or the Holy Roman Empire, Fontaine is its neighboring France but during the French Revolution, Inazuma is Shogunate era Japan and Liyue is essentially China across the ages. Sumeru was Persia across the ages, going from the Achaemenid period where Zoroastrianism was born through to the revival period of the Sassanids and then into the Muslim Conquest era. But Natlan is honestly not based on any single region.

And I should preface this because I had made a predictions topic where one of my major points actually relied on this to be true but with a caveat. The Natlan we have is a mishmash of cultures across the African continent, the American continent and also the Polynesian islands of Asia. When I was coming up with my predictions, one of them was that Mavuika (previously Murata) would be revealed as the Pyro Yaksha because she necessarily had to be modeled after Honkai Impact's Murata Himeko who is obviously Japanese. (the anime equivalent of a Japanese person anyway) And so to link a Japanese girl to a region previously centered around the Yoruba West African people and also stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans thanks to Vennessa's tribe in the manhua I had to propose the ongoing study that Shang Dynasty Era China actually mingled with Native American cultures like the Olmec and Chavin who predate the Aztec and Inca which are now definitely part of Natlan. Through the already established link between Native American aesthetics and the clearly African Iansan character the period of history Natlan would likely be based on is the Triangle Trade. As such migration would be important and therefore this connection allowed Mavuika to be an Asian woman in a totally unrelated region. Then to define her potential plotline I took from not only the Aztec Tezcatlipoca and Yoruba Orisha and husband to Iansan, Shango but also the Hawaiian Kupua Pele and it was the Pele aspect which led me to mention Polynesian culture.

Ok so with that background covered let me clarify my disagreement with miHoYo. In spite of Mavuika tying in the cultures of the Americas and Polynesia with Africa, my predictions about Natlan were still mainly focused on the Yoruba culture, their transfer into South America and then miHoYo would be using Native American cultures to flesh out the region since just the Yoruba religion alone wouldn't be enough information for an entire region. However instead of a foundation on one region with accents from another we have a region equally based around the entire cultures of peoples from three whole continents. That I feel is a mistake.

With that elephant out of the room let's go over my other predictions and how they've played out so far:

In my Natlan Poetry Theory prediction I had said that just like Sumeru and Liyue before it, Natlan would give us an entire Act I where we just learn about the daily lives of the locals. This contrasts against Fontaine, Inazuma and Mondstadt where it wasn't long before we were thrust into the plot and we learned about the region as we went along. In Act I of the new Archon Quest we not only were forced into a World Quest to learn the new mechanic of indwelling Saurians but Kachina literally takes us around as our tour guide and then Mualani takes over once we've learned about their routine pilgrimage and Night Warden Wars. In fact we're even forced into the audience by their traditions and cannot take part in the plot during Act I.

My prediction for Act II then was that this would be our first meeting with the Pyro Archon. Yes we saw her in Act I but our first meeting only took place in Act II. Additionally Capitano did make his presence known and we do not learn the details of his mission. That will be uncovered in Acts III and IV which is a prediction still to be seen.

As for Mavuika, my prediction was that she'd be revealed as the Pyro Yaksha and thus far, there are hints to that outcome. Yes I understand she's clearly stated that she's human but I'll get to why I don't think that will stick by the end of the story in the next section. For now we have her unique hair glow. Every Archon we've seen thus far (and dragon) has highlights in their hair that gently glows when they use their elemental powers. Mavuika on the other hand lights her hair on fire and it lifts up like a super saiyan. This is how the Pyro Yaksha is depicted in most of her combat related scenes. Seeing small clues that hint at her true origins in Act II was also a prediction I had. And I also suggested that her personality much like the other Female Pyro Claymore Characters would be bubbly, confident and well-adjusted, which Mavuika definitely demonstrates.

So the big one. Mavuika directly tells us that she's human and even shows us her family. The cutscene even shows us memories she has of that family. And yet I'm saying my theory that she's the Pyro Yaksha is still plausible. How?

Well to start I'm actually pulling another controversial theory of mine, that Raiden Ei is also a human who ascended to Archonhood. There's monumental amounts of evidence supporting this claim and what do we know about Ei once she's Archon? Even without her Gnosis she's lived for hundreds of years and is so powerful she can defeat a robot counterpart that was casually able to erect an unceasing thunderstorm around the entire island chain of Inazuma. This directly contradicts what Kachina tells us about the human Pyro Archons.

Additionally while Mavuika talks about the Gnosis, her powers seem far more related to the Sacred Flame and can be recharged through the power of human memories. This seems to relate far more to something like Sumeru's Akasha System which was a way for Rukkhadevata to utilize the power of humans. The Gnosis sustained the Akasha which unified the collective cognition of all Sumerans wearing a terminal. It's very likely the Sacred Flame is unifying human memories and support to provide artificial godly powers to the chosen human and the flame is sustained by the Gnosis. Wait, doesn't that prove Mavuika's human then? Hold that thought.

We're taken to the Statue of the Seven and it looks like Mavuika. It's directly stated by Kachina that she doesn't know why the statue looks like her despite her being the current Archon. Of course this is revealed to be due to the fact that Mavuika was also the Archon 500 years ago. However it doesn't actually answer the question. A year ago we had the Dainsleif Quest, Caribert. In it we follow Chlothar Alberich as he goes to pray to Rukkhadevata's statue. Chlothar lived 500 years ago and while the quest took place about a hundred years later he didn't mention that the statue was new. In fact he seemed to take it as a matter of fact which means they existed even in his time and therefore predate when Mavuika would have been Archon. The statues were likely created at the end of the Archon War when the Seven took their places as rulers of their regions. That was 2000 years ago. And the thing is we already know who that Archon was, the male Xbalanque. So there's another caveat isn't there? Were the statues permanently modeled after the Archon present at their creation or does it change for each incoming Archon? If the latter then it shouldn't have been a question that the statue looks like Mavuika the current Archon. If the former, it would necessarily mean Mavuika is directly related to the First Pyro Archon and that necessarily means it wasn't the human Xbalanque. This is a trend we've seen so far in the game with Venti and Zhongli naturally represented by their statues but Ei related to Makoto who the statues represent, Nahida appeared like the power drained First Dendro Archon and finally Furina is an aspect of the First Hydro Archon.

So how do we find the answer to this? For that let's go back to my Poetry Theory. Back in Fontaine Furina was used by the Hydro Archon to fool Celestia. According to my theory, Natlan will do the opposite of Fontaine. So if the Archon created a human form to then have her play the fool while she worked behind the scenes towards her goal, then in Natlan what if the Archon fools herself into believing she is said human? My theory would also suggest Natlan will complement Sumeru and what did we have in Sumeru? Rukkhadevata set Nahida up to be her replacement but Nahida is just an aspect of Rukkhadevata, the purest branch. What if the current Mavuika is that, the purest form of the true Mavuika, the formerly corrupted Pyro Yaksha? Or what if something else even more powerful than the Pyro Archon is responsible for nurturing this purest form of Mavuika? Let's continue.

The quest seems to hint at this itself. We're first told that Mavuika is the current Archon but then Mualani regains memories from Tupac and realizes that she was also the Archon from back then. The Abyss was responsible for blocking memories of the plan Mavuika made 500 years ago. That said, don't they have history? If we talk about 500 years ago in the real world I'm sure we could identify national leaders of the time. Around 500 years ago Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We know exactly what he looked like and we know who the king and queen of Spain whom he sought to finance his expedition looked like. There are tons of oil paintings of the event. You'd think there'd be history classes to teach Natlanese over the last 500 years that the statue accurately depicts their previous Archon. This would be especially true considering they are still living in the aftermath of the major event from that time and do actually pass on its legacy. Imagine forgetting what Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt looked like in our post-WWII world. I think it's safe to say not only did the Abyss block memories for the heroes but all of Natlan has had some memories manipulated.

Late into Act II Mavuika explains why she keeps mementos from Natlanese across the ages. They were used as fuel that could tear open the bridge between the living world and the artificial Ley Line world of the Night Kingdom. What this implies then along with my previous point is that Natlan's story will focus on how memories work in Teyvat, specifically how they can be used. We recently found out what that could mean. Our sibling is creating a device called the Loom of Fate which can generate new Ley Lines. Artificially generated Ley Lines, what does that sounds like? The Night Kingdom, a Ley Line substitute for a region with weak Ley Lines. What else did the Loom do before this? How about making a whole village in Sumeru believe they lived with someone who's actually a 500 year old dead Khaenri'ahn? We already know that Mavuika seamlessly inserted herself into modern day Natlan despite only being reborn recently. How is it that nobody noticed that Mavuika doesn't actually have a family at present or that she couldn't have won the title of Archon as per their tradition? They necessarily had to have had their memories changed to believe that their current Archon ascended in the exact same way all the previous ones in the last 500 years had. So if that's true then how much of a stretch would it be for Mavuika to have altered her own memories, made herself believe she like Caribert had a family and tribe from a foreign nation 500 years ago?

Side Note: That said if they really wanted to they could also use this theory on a human Mavuika. She just revives periodically when the Sacred Flame doesn't have enough Contending Fire to keep it lit.

There's another thing persistently stated during the Archon Quest that might support this theory because it just isn't true. We're told several times that Natlan was the worst affected by the Cataclysm because it has weak Ley Lines but we already know just by simple comparison that that's incorrect. Remember Inazuma? Remember the original Inazuma timeline when there was no Sacred Sakura? The reason Inazuma suffered was from its proximity to the Dark Sea. It was much easier for Abyssal forces to attack it than any other region in Teyvat. Makoto then had to sacrifice herself to become the Sacred Sakura and strengthen Inazuma's Ley Lines with her roots. So doesn't that beg the question why didn't Natlan do the same thing especially with their long list of expendable Archons? Hey Mavuika, instead of time traveling 500 years into the future why didn't you just turn yourself into Natlan's sacred tree and strengthen the Ley Lines just like Makoto did? Problem solved. The reason I believe is that we're not talking about the Cataclysm at all. Just like Natlan had its memories manipulated and Mavuika had her yaksha memories suppressed, even the circumstances have been changed. Notice how often we get shoutouts about the dragon age in Natlan. It's more than we've ever gotten before and I actually theorized about that too. I said that because we know about Nibelung and that there was a faction using the Abyss in their own war against Celestia, that there was another incursion of the Abyss long before the Cataclysm. After all Apep sought forbidden knowledge long before Deshret offered himself to her and that was already long before Rukkhadevata's death during the Cataclysm. The new Artifact Sets also bring up this era. It's likely the Abyss afflicting Natlan isn't just the forces that attacked during the Cataclysm but rather the lasting effects the Abyss had on the region stemming all they way back to the age of dragons. Notice how for the first time we have Abyss versions of Saurian enemies. We've never had Abyssal Vishaps before. (But notably we did have Abyssal mimics in the space whale fight and one version was vishaps. Click here to see why that works with this theory.) Nibelung's forces would have been afflicted with Abyssal power so having Abyssal dragon enemies fits Natlan if they're still dealing with the aftermath of that incursion by the Abyss rather than just the Cataclysm.

In fact if we look back at the manhua, note that Vennessa lived about 1000 years ago back when Mondstadt was ruled by its aristocracy. In this chapter, Venti tells her that "in those days" Natlan held tournaments. We're told in the Archon Quest that these tournaments started 500 years ago as their solution to the Abyss. Prior to that, Natlan was in decline and would have fallen had it not been for Mavuika inspiring Tenoch to unite the tribes. So how could they have both held these same tournaments 1000 years ago when they only started 500 years ago? Well how could a human Archon with a human lifespan also be the Archon 500 years ago? Memory manipulation.

Side Note 1: I've relied fairly heavily on my Poetry Theory for this so far right? Well there might even be a hint favoring this theory from the Archon Quest itself. Notice when we can't get our Pyro form that the elements we show Kachina are Electro, Hydro and Anemo or Inazuma, Fontaine and Mondstadt, regions that I said relate to each other in my theory. Why didn't the Traveler use Geo or Dendro? They would relate to Pyro and we can't get our Pyro abilities yet.

Side Note 2: In this same theory, I claimed that Mavuika would lack confidence just like Nahida. This made sense if she was the Pyro Yaksha because the yaksha had fallen to corruption and betrayed her kin. However the Mavuika we got was loud, proud and unabashed. Theory debunked right? Except once again if we accept the memory manipulation theory it makes perfect sense she wouldn't be muted because she wouldn't remember what she had done. Instead we turn to what the Pyro Yaksha was like before her fall and if we compare those cutscenes with Mavuika it works perfectly. She was also a fun-loving person who adored her family.

Ok so before I head to the next point, how will any of this play out? We have three more acts left to this quest right? In my original predictions it didn't account for this memory change stuff. Well it also didn't account for v5.3.

In the v5.0 livestream we're told that unlike before the Archon Quest would take place in v5.0, v5.1 and then skip v5.2 for v5.3 instead. Why? As trends go v5.2 will see the release of the Archon but with the Archon Quest set to end a whole patch later what exactly would we get alongside the Archon? Well if my theory is correct we need more information about her specific circumstances, perhaps information better suited for a Character Quest rather than the Archon Quest. It wouldn't be the first time Character Quests were required to unlock the Archon Quest. We may learn the truth in her quest in v5.2.

Ok so Mavuika is really the Pyro Yaksha who ascended to Archonhood a long time ago just to set up a long game whereby she wipes her own memories and commits Natlan to endlessly fight against the Abyss forces. How does that even work? Who's the Focalors' Divinity or Rukkhadevata in this plan? What's the endgame here?

We may have our answer to that already. What is the Wayob? It's actually a plural form for the word way (pronounced why) which is a Mayan word for dream and it references the Native American belief in the spiritwalk. A wayob can take on the form of an animal spirit and enter dreams. As such our Wayob exists in the Night Kingdom which substitutes Natlan's Ley Lines. Now in the Cinder City Artifact Set told of a legendary "Python King of Ochkanatlan." Ochkanatlan is a portmanteau of the Mayan title Ochkan and of course the Aztec word Natlan which is the region's name. So what's Ochkan? It's the Mayan concept of the Vision Serpent, divine beings that symbolize resurrection and bridge the gap between the world of the living and dead. Very interesting for a region where the major feature is an underworld that can be accessed by the living. Vision serpents can also allow communication between the living and the dead and they dwell upon the Mayan concept of the World Tree which we would call Irminsul, again tied to memories and Ley Lines. One famous Vision Serpent is Kukulkan but you might be more familiar with its Aztec name, Quetzalcoatl. Or maybe you might have come across another variation on its Mayan name, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan say from a certain World Quest we were forced to start. Now Quetzalcoatl is interesting. In Aztec lore he resides in the layer of heaven called Huitztlan which happens to be the name of the Scions of the Canopy. And not only is Quetzalcoatl related to Huitztlan but also the planet Venus which has been referenced in Genshin too. Venus is one of the Seven Classical Planets of Babylonian astrology which are represented by their gods. Venus is represented by Ishtar who would go on to become the Greek Aphrodite and translated in Hebrew as Astaroth. In Genshin we call her Istaroth. From the lore we know that Istaroth aided humanity like when she taught Abrax how to make the Dainichi Mikoshi or when she created Venti to depose Decarabian and then ran Mondstadt alongside the newly crowned Anemo Archon. It doesn't take much to believe she may have also assisted Natlan and that's where this theory is going next.

In the folklore of West and Central Africa they believe in a patron goddess called Idemili. One of her emissaries is a snake, specifically a Ball Python which has the species name Python regius or Python King. Going back to the Cinder Artifact Set let’s apply that Ochkan term back into the full name. Natlan doesn't mean Aztlan. (do yourselves a favor and ignore the wiki's guesswork by default) Natlan isn't a standard Aztec word but you can piece it together by understanding the language. Na means me and -tlan is a suffix that means land so what Natlan actually means is "my land" or I suppose you could translate it to "my homeland" given the tribal nature of the region. But now add in Ochkan. I think you can translate it to mean "the land of my Python King." In other words the previous incarnation of Natlan was Ochkanatlan, ruled by the Python King who was associated with Idemili a patron goddess who aided the local people, something Istaroth would have done. So if we know Istaroth has also ruled Mondstadt with Venti what conclusion might we be able to draw here? This Python King is working with or under her as well and she defied Phanes. Now unlike Venti I don't think this Python King is one of her creations. In fact we likely know he isn't. In Kinich's Tribal Chronicles (what exists of it so far) we're told a legend of the Huitztlan people, that once upon a time there was an actual Och-kan and Yupanqui killed him with the Turnfire. At the same time we also have a story from the Myths of the Night Realm piece of the Obsidian Codex Artifact Set where someone called Chaac killed a dragon and then used phlogiston to ignite the first flame likely the Sacred Flame which then gave birth to the first Wayob. Now you might think these two stories are just separate stories but they both deal with the founding of a new Natlan, opposing dragons and Xbalanque was alive for both of them.

Side Note: Btw can we just give props to the devs for being able to link a Native American myth with African mythology? How much research did they have to do to connect Idemili and the Python King with Quetzalcoatl’s link to both Venus and the Mayan Vision Serpent?

Now let's go back to Quetzalcoatl or the Mayan Waxaklahun Ubah Kan since that's the character we have in game. The wisest of dragons, he defected from the other dragons and gave humanity phlogiston just like the real world Quetzalcoatl gave humanity the use of fire. However over time humanity didn't use this power the way he intended. We're told he withdrew from the world as a result and then the Pyro Archon made Natlan function differently so it became a moot point. What if that's not how it went down? It certainly didn't go so smoothly with Quetzalcoatl. When his humans disobeyed Tezcatlipoca felt insulted on his behalf and turned them all into monkeys. Then Quetzalcoatl flew into a rage and destroyed the world. In our story, we have a dragon that didn't agree with his fellow dragons. Would he be willing to accept their descendent Saurians do you think? Probably not. What if Waxaklahun Ubah Kan is Och-Kan? In this scenario, the team consisted of all three heroes with Yupanqui dying during the fight, Xbalanque being engulfed in flames but surviving by becoming the Archon and the remaining team of Sakkuk and Chaac retiring to a quiet life. But at the end of his life Chaac went on to light the first Sacred Flame which then revived the Och-Kan now as the Wayob. Yes I'm saying that I think the Pyro Dragon Sovereign is the Wayob. Taking all of the pieces we have together, Quetzalcoatl the Vision Serpent that connects the world of the living with the world of the dead becomes a spirit that manifests in dreams to guide humanity, the same humanity that it had fostered since the beginning. And this plan started with Istaroth.

Side Note: What's more Sakkuk's lore is about her appealing to a primordial goddess to help her reestablish order in her nation and this goddess co-rules with her. That's another connection to Istaroth because of Mondstadt. And her actions in Enkanomiya reflect Africa's Idemili who brought the people to their land and protected them.

Ok so that's the Pyro Dragon side of things. What about the human side? Quetzalcoatl is part of a major creation myth called the Five Suns. I've actually used this to predict Mavuika's upcoming actions. We also know for sure that this myth is on miHoYo's mind as well. In the final part of the myth, the reason the Aztecs perform regular human sacrifices is under the tutelage of Tezcatlipoca in order to both appease him and more importantly to keep the goddesses of night or Tzitzimitl from killing their Fifth Sun God Huitzilopochtli which would extinguish his flame and blanket the world in darkness. Taking all the details of these ritual sacrifices together we have a tournament between warriors, selecting the strongest warrior to honor as a great hero before sacrificing him and burning his heart. Often this warrior would impersonate one of these gods and his heart would be cut out using an obsidian blade. Doesn't that sound like a.... well a very graphic R-rated version of Natlan's Pilgrimage and the Night Warden Wars? Warriors compete with each other for the right to fight in the Night Warden Wars against the Abyss which currently occupies the Night Kingdom and are trying to extinguish Natlan's Sacred Flame. This Sacred Flame is also where Mavuika burned herself in sacrifice in the past to save the nation in the present. The Natlanese that get sent to fight the Abyss also have Ancient Names that are carved into obsidian stones shaped like knives and the Archon uses this to bring them back from the flame. Finally these human warriors compete so that the strongest of them becomes the next Pyro Archon, a human taking on the role of a god.

That's where we currently are but this set up is failing as Mavuika explains that Natlan is less than a year away from annihilation. So what can be done? How about something called the New Fire Ceremony? In the days leading to this ritual the Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli was still losing to the Tzitzimitl and therefore the world would be destroyed. Sounding familiar right? To that end the people would destroy their belongings because they represent the past. On the final day they would put out all existing fires and then another young warrior would be sacrificed with the whole cutting out the heart and lighting it on fire yada yada and this new fire would be passed around the city. If the sun rose the next day the ritual was successful and the world was saved. Right now we're already on this last stage. The Abyss is still winning despite the Pilgrimage and the Sacred Flame doesn't have enough Contending Fire to keep it lit. Mavuika then had to sacrifice her belongings which represented the past heroes of Natlan in order to protect the current heroes. She is also planning to create an Ancient Name for the Traveler in order to have them involved in the plan, her chosen young warrior. Again these names are etched into obsidian and our Traveler still doesn't have their Pyro powers yet.

Side Note 1: I had likened Mavuika to Tezcatlipoca. You know how she said she'd have Xilonen figure out a way to give us an Ancient Name? Xilonen is the favorite wife of Tezcatlipoca. Traveler, run fast and run far lol

Side Note 2: The name Xilonen also means the hairy one so that's maybe why she's a furry lol. Gotta love miHoYo's sense of humor.

But of course the Rated E for Everyone Genshin is not cutting the Traveler's heart out and setting it on fire right? So what else is going to happen in Genshin's New Fire Ceremony? Now we need to talk about the other missing member of the Xbalanque/Yupanqui/Chaac team, the Scarlet-Eyed Youth. This is the person who organized the team to go after the Och-Kan to begin with, according to the Unfinished Reverie Artifact Set. In my theory, the Pilgrimage is just a bandage on the problem but there's a real plan hidden away. Late into Act II Mavuika says she can only trust in the judgment of the Wayob. While she erased her memories of it just like the Abyss blocked our modern day heroes from inheriting memories from their Ancient Names, that information is with the Wayob, the Pyro Dragon. The Scarlet-Eyed Youth set up the team to kill Och-Kan and in the aftermath Xbalanque became the first human Pyro Archon. What happened to the youth? According to the Artifacts, "The scarlet-eyed youth ... had returned to the sacred flames after completing his calling, leaving nothing but a warm afterglow." What does that remind you guys of? Something like Mavuika walking into the Sacred Flame, burning up so she can be reborn 500 years later? And how did Mavuika describe time again? The past, present and future are all happening at once. It's just we normally perceive time linearly. What if the plan makes use of the land of memories that is the Night Kingdom, now the domicile of the Wayob Dragon Sovereign to bypass normal time? By entering the Sacred Flame you can not only move forward in time without aging but maybe you can also go backwards. What if Mavuika also set up Xbalanque to become the first of the human Archons but she actually preceded him as an actual Archon, a yaksha that ascended through the use of the Gnosis and the Gnosis, or rather the Pyro Dragon's Authority is facilitating this unusual passage through time via the Sacred Flame and the Night Kingdom?

But how did this plan even come together? It's fine to suggest that Mavuika and the Wayob are working together but how did they even meet? Even if she was the yaksha she would have been in Liyue until her fall which would have taken a long time, long after the founding of Liyue 3700 years ago and deep into the Archon War which should have been long after the fall of the dragons. Well originally we learned that the yaksha were suffering from "karmic debt" by absorbing all of the lingering malice of the dead gods they cleaned up following the Archon War in Liyue. But now what if we included the corruption by the Abyss of the dragons under Nibelung? Suddenly this "karmic debt" is Abyssal Corruption. And the Abyss talks to you as we learned in the Archon Quest. We know the Pyro Dragon disagreed with Nibelung and favored the humans which likely put a target on its back. How much of a stretch would it be for the corrupted Pyro Yaksha to be lured towards Natlan and manipulated into killing the Pyro Dragon? This would have predated her enlisting Xbalanque and we may even know how this part played out. So the Pyro Yaksha goes after the dragon. With its command over Pyro and the specific phlogiston flame that's been holding back the Abyss in the present, maybe the dragon was able to purify the yaksha. This however might have come at a cost and the yaksha probably wasn't sent alone. Why doesn't Natlan have strong Ley Lines? Maybe the incursion by Nibelung's forces damaged them beyond repair. So now with the yaksha back to her senses they needed to work fast to figure out an alternative to the Ley Lines and come up with a plan to eliminate the encroaching Abyssal forces.

And that's when the Pyro Yaksha takes a little trip to Fontaine. Why Fontaine? Well another dragon was getting involved in future events over there and those events were set to put that region back on track. I have a theory that Zhongli was involved with this and setting up Neuvillette to be reborn to protect Fontaine in the far future. If the Hydro Dragon could be part of this plan, why not the Pyro Dragon? And who better to facilitate a plan by Morax than someone who already served under Morax? And so the "Scarlet-Eyed Youth" returned to Natlan from Fontaine to enlist a crew and kill the Pyro Dragon. I'm not sure how much those humans would have known but Chaac was given phlogiston by the dragon itself so they may have known what they were really doing. The Abyss would not have left Natlan alone with the Pyro Dragon still actively opposing Nibelung so it knew it had to die. Therefore in a move just like Raiden Makoto, it would die only to become the Wayob and set up the Night Kingdom to take the place of the Ley Lines. And with an added effect too. After all people who "die" in Natlan are sent to the Night Kingdom and as long as they have a conduit, the Pyro Archon can step into the Sacred Flame and bring them back over. And of course there's one more thing that being turned into the Wayob did. The Wayob split itself into at least six parts, one for each of the tribes in Natlan, acting as their guardian spirit. (this is actually not provable with the currently released Natlan but several players have broken the game and you can actually get to a future version of the Night Kingdom where the Wayob totems are floating around a central totem that's on fire, pretty telling that the smaller totems for the tribes are splinters off of this central totem which is the actual singular Wayob) This was the next part of the plan which is the Archon Quest so far. A group of heroes from each tribe needs to come together to confront the Abyss until the true plan is ready.

Side Note 1: Also while the players I've seen so far thought this was "returning to the Night Kingdom" from the Archon Quest, I'm surprised they didn't notice that the whole area looks nothing like the one we visit in the quest. There is no central flaming totem and the only totem we get to see is the Nanatzcayan one. And there's one other feature that's also missing from the one we visit. There's a Divine Nail floating around the Night Kingdom. Curious but it adds to my theory. We know the Dragon Sovereigns were also targeted by Phanes. So not only was the Pyro Dragon under attack by its own fellow Dragons for siding with the humans, Celestia was also after it. Now did it attack it before or after it became the Wayob? That remains to be seen. I'm actually leaning towards after because I believe Celestia only attacked the dragons that didn't take a knee, for example Decarabian and Apep. Meanwhile dragons that met its criteria and protected the humans like Morax would go on to become members of its Seven. On the other hand, creating a realm where humans can die and come back to life flies in the face of its human life is precious philosophy and like we saw in Fontaine it lashes out.

Side Note 2: I hear some of you saying, "but the Scarlet-Eyed Youth was a man, the set even calls him scarlet-eyed young man at one point." But you guys who have read my other stuff might know what I'm about to say to this. "He" is only a man in the English localization. In Chinese every mention just calls this character a youth. This is a recurring translation issue because in Chinese the third person pronouns can all be the same word 他. There are specific female, male and neuter versions of the word and miHoYo has even employed them before but 他 is the default word and can be used for anyone. Remember when the Dendro Archon was male? Yeah they used 他 which made it hard for the localizers. It's likely miHoYo wanted to keep the gender ambiguous until we were closer to Sumeru's release but it's easy to do in Chinese (and also Korean) where the spoken version of this pronoun is also the same even across the gender specific varieties but in English and Japanese it's much more difficult to talk about him/her without giving away that detail. We usually have to rely on using "them" but that feels awkward and intentional in conversation.

Side Note 3: If Xiuhcoatl is a separate dragon though then maybe we know who it is. Kinich's little buddy keeps calling himself the Almighty Dragonlord K'uhul Ajaw right? K'uhul Ajaw is Mayan for divine lord which is a title used by their leaders. Xiuhcoatl was also a leader of Natlan. On top of that it's described as a black dragon with large wings and in Kinich's Burst, Ajaw turns into a black dragon with large wings. It wouldn't be the first time a supremely powerful being was diminished and followed a human. We learned right after Inazuma's Archon Quest that the cute little teddy bear Guoba was actually the Archon Marchosius. Changsheng the former adepti is contracted to Baizhu and finally there's Oz who follows around Fischl. I've have an ongoing theory that Oz is the Archon Naberius. (Actually now that I have it written down, what if Ajaw being the almighty dragon lord and all did just like Changsheng and contracted with Kinich? I mean the game so far has only hinted at it's true meaning but Malipo is Swahili for payment so that works perfectly with the price Baizhu has to pay to contract with Changsheng.)

Is there any other information backing this theory of mine? Well remember all the way back in Travail what Dainsleif said about the Natlan chapter? When Mavuika tells us a secret it's "because she has her reasons." In Act II she revealed that she knows that we transcend fate but also that she knew more than we realized. We already knew Zhongli and Yae both know this about us and have already put us to work. Nicole has been guiding us in this role as well. But how would a simple human Archon know when even Neuvillette only figured it out after regaining his full power? Maybe that's the secret, that she herself is part of the Wayob's plan to undermine both the Abyss and the Heavenly Principles, a plan enacted by her former boss Morax. This is also why she knows to preserve memories in physical objects much like Morax had tried etching memories into stone and Yae recorded them in stories.

Why can't we use Pyro yet? Each time we've simply touched a local Statue of the Seven and gotten our new form. Well as time went on it became more and more clear that what the Traveler really does is resonate with the most powerful source of the local element in the region. In Fontaine they don't mimic the Hydro Archon's abilities at all but rather Neuvillette's. On the other hand in Inazuma despite Yae being the Electro Dragon (also a controversial theory of mine) our Traveler resonates with the current Archon Ei. In Natlan according to the game, there have been tons of human Archons over the years. Which one of them would be the most powerful source of Pyro? Then according to my theory, Mavuika is a yaksha and part of her reason for accepting her role in the plan would have been not taking hold of the Gnosis herself and leaving it to power the Sacred Flame which then powers her. This is due to her shame for having fallen to corruption. Without her accepting her place as Archon and with the Pyro Dragon dead Natlan is actually missing a true source of leadership and without it we can't resonate.

I brought up the Python King of Ochkanatlan as part of this theory but it's only legend and I've consistently stated that legends aren't going to be substantiated as actual parts of the story. The thing is, it won't but legends can still hint at the truth. In this case we do know there had to have been something like a Python King and an Ochkanatlan because Och-Kan is a real thing. The group under the Scarlet-Eyed Youth fight against the Och-Kan and that isn't legend. Anyway I needed to get that out of the way because there was another part to that legend that might hint at my theory as well. In the Artifact Set the Python King built an airship and placed a device inside of it capable of banishing the Abyss. How? By rewinding time. That sounds like Mavuika being able to use the Sacred Flame to set the pieces in motion for the ultimate plan to repel the Abyssal Corruption plaguing Natlan since the age of dragons. (and also defy fate) I'm not sure yet how the airship might figure into this but who knows if that part won't be fully fiction.

The Archon Quest has reinforced the Traveler's unique ability as a Descender which is that the Abyss has no effect on them while they can actually purify its corruption. This is an ability the seven elements don't possess as the best these elements can do is oppose it. The quest reminds us that this is what Lisa had deduced. This Descender ability is similar to the Khvarena which cancels out the Abyss. The Abyss we've currently experienced is actually a diluted version of the Void Realm or the Sea of Quanta. The sea is opposed by the Imaginary Tree and its Imaginary element. We're one step below that.

And let's not forget the other thing this quest reinforced. Paimon is also not affected. Just about everybody's had a theory about her already so the reveal was likely not a shock. In my personal theory about her I think she's just like Istaroth, another shining shade. (but she's not Istaroth herself like what some of the theories suggest) Instead just like Istaroth reflects the Classical Planet of Venus, Paimon is the Classical Planet of Mercury. As the shades are created by Phanes who is a Descender it stands to reason they share its ability to not be affected by the Abyss.

Side Note: There were a few shoutouts to the Mondstadt Archon Quest. But back in the livestream we were told that we needed to complete the Liyue Archon Quest in order to unlock the Natlan quest. Given what my theory suggests the quest will reveal, the Liyue Archon Quest might be getting mentioned either in Mavuika's Character Quest in v5.2 or even as early as Acts III and IV in v5.1.

The Archon Quest also reinforced the Hoyoverse's basis in quantum mechanics. Mavuika stated that the past, present and future are all occurring together. This is part of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. According to quantum mechanics we are lower dimensional beings and therefore are forced to experience the time dimension linearly. However if certain conditions are met we could manipulate space-time to allow time travel. Star Rail is already based on this idea with the Paths and Light Cones. On the other hand Mavuika's beliefs could hint at her belief in predestination as the future already exists. This is the deterministic model which is likely how our world works but not how multiverses work and the Hoyoverse is a multiverse. This could be her folly as we've combated fate multiple times. While we haven't technically overcome fate yet we have manipulated prophecies and Neuvillette's resurrection was likely another defiance of fate. By the end of the game the ultimate goal will be to truly control fate by transcending it. Of course, that's also what Mavuika said we'd do right? Perhaps she's depending on us to show her that Teyvat is indeterministic and the future is not set in stone.

Earlier I joked that Xilonen was closely tied to Mavuika as, if Mavuika takes inspiration from Tezcatlipoca then Xilonen is his wife and Mavuika is having her create our Ancient Name. However on a serious note my theory has claimed that Iansan would be the closest.

This is already seen in Act II. Iansan is the only one with Mavuika when she sacrifices her power. She is the only one with the group that had already been recognized by her Ancient Name and so knew about the plan. Actually I had originally believed she'd be part of the Nanatzcayan because this is the layer of heaven related to death and Iansan is a Yoruba Orisha with unique insight into death. However she's actually part of the Collective of Plenty tribe which I think may be called Tonatiuh which is the name of the physical sun that Huitzilopochtli became in the Five Suns creation myth. In some versions of the myth another god Nanahuatzin continuously sacrifices himself by fire to act as a temporary sun until Huitzilopochtli can finally replace him.

Side Note: The fact that she's an Electro allogene may also work towards her lore and importance to Mavuika. A while ago I amended my Elemental Character Traits Theory by proposing that when Yae bestowed some of the Electro Visions using Ei's Gnosis (there were 400 years where Ei was already in the Euthymia, Yae had possession of her Gnosis and people were still getting Visions so the only explanation is that Yae was the one giving them) she selected some who had the potential to change Teyvat on their own. The Vision then was only a push to get them started. We can see that from the Vision stories of characters like Shinobu and Lisa where the Vision just confirms for them that they're on the right track. Iansan in lore and in game is an undefeated warrior in a nation where victory in battle is the only goal.

I suppose if we're talking about naming these tribes I might as well predict the names of the other tribes. The most prominent one from the Archon Quest has to be the Masters of the Night-Wind which is actually very easy to name. Night-Wind or Yohualli Ehecatl is another name for Tezcatlipoca the God of Night. His layer of heaven is Yayauhco. Alternatively though because of their foresight abilities, this could relate them to astrology which is related to the stars and that would be the layer Tetlaliloc. In fact our major Night-Wind character, Citlali has a name meaning star. And we do know this tribe is aiding Capitano. Remember that in Aztec lore the stars are malevolent forces of the night that are trying to blot out the sun.

Side Note: Hilariously the wiki is already saying that the Night-Wind tribe will be called Mictlan. Mictlan isn't a layer of heaven so yeah that's likely wrong. Actually originally they hadn't cited their source for this claim. Now they have but it's worse that they did. There are two references to Mictlan right now and both are talking about a place not a people. Mictlan is likely the location that the Night-Wind tribe will live, a new area of Natlan we'll get once the remaining tribes are released. It'll probably be called Mictlan Valley. It's just like how Huitztlan is the name of the Scions of the Canopy but they live on Coatepec Mountain, named after the actual mythical mountain where Huitzilopochtli was born. (again Huitztlan is related to Quetzalcoatl)

The remaining tribe would be Chasca's Flower-Feather Clan. There's less to go on with this but I'm going to guess it's Xoxoauhco or the dawn sky which may fit with Anemo. This layer is also the abode of Huitzilopochtli. And just like with the Night-Wind tribe, they may be called Xoxoauhco but they could live in an area named after Xochiquetzal the goddess of flowers, feathers and beauty.

Side Note: I had also suggested that because Nanatzcayan was the eighth layer of heaven and the ones above it are more suited to the divine that perhaps another secret to Natlan is that there were actually eight tribes. The missing ones would be Mamaloaco where the gods of the female stars dwell and Tetlaliloc or Yayauhco depending on which one miHoYo gives to the Night-Wind tribe. My money's on Tetlaliloc though because it would work out so well for the layer related to the evil stars to have fallen to the Abyss during the ancient conflict and thus their legacy was lost to time. If this is the case we may get this tribe's lore late into Natlan's run when the final area is released. Perhaps it could even appear in Mavuika's Character Quest 2.

Finally there's that Capitano scene at the end of the quest. It was obvious that miHoYo intends for this to be a cliffhanger to spark discussion but the answer to this is pretty straightforward. We already know there's a new character Ororon who was even shown to be at Capitano's side. It's also known he's part of the Night-Wind tribe. I suppose miHoYo did try to misdirect us with the livestream that made it seem like Kinich was the traitor but that'll turn out to be a red herring and not even much of one. That line will probably play out in his Tribal Chronicles. However it seems interesting that Capitano is shown to be talking to Ororon but the final line about hearing something feels detached from that conversation, like he's talking to someone else on top of Rezanov and Ororon. In my predictions I suggested that based on who Il Capitano is in the commedia dell'arte that it'll be revealed Sandrone is actually in control of him and the true Harbinger operating in Natlan. So the you that heard something might be her instead. In fact

what did Mavuika feel? Maybe gears? Metal? The consciousness of another person? The real Capitano trying to claw his way out of a body not under his control?

With all of that said.... all of this theorizing might be for nothing. I've been worried that something rotten is happening over at miHoYo. I had feared that miHoYo was using Natlan to promote their new game Zenless Zone Zero just like they'd hijacked Fontaine to promote Star Rail. We have a new Local Legend Trio in Natlan called Polychrome Tri-Stars and when you defeat them you'll get the Achievement of the same name. Polychrome happens to be the name of the primogem item in Zenless Zone Zero.

On top of that there's already a definite continuity error in Natlan. All the way back when Genshin launched we had the World Boss Artifact Drop, Wanderer's Troupe. Part of the lore of that set stated that the Wanderer's Troupe found their way to the Mare Jivari. The troupe opposed the Mondstadt Aristocracy and predated the time Venti helped Vennessa overthrow them which was 1000 years ago. In v4.0 we received the BP Weapon, Talking Stick which introduced us to Tenoch. In this lore we're told that Tenoch existed in a time before Mare Jivari was named and he and his group would die there. So far no problem. Tenoch's group would have just existed prior to the Wanderer's Troupe so over 1000 years ago at least. But now we've gotten our Archon Quest and it is directly stated that Tenoch existed during the Cataclysm 500 years ago. How could the Wanderer's Troupe have visited the already named Mare Jivari which was established in v1.0 when Tenoch who came half a millennium later will die in an as yet unnamed Mare Jivari?

Side Note: Of course there is a solution but just like with Fontaine I have my doubts miHoYo will even realize this error to fix it. After all if that was the case we wouldn't have gotten the Inversion of Genesis story that we did nor would we have gotten a fully powered Dragon Sovereign currently ruling over Fontaine and having created humans that still suffer from long-term illnesses when none of them were actually human until only a year ago. (I really don't like the Fontaine Archon Quest) Anyway that solution is simple; my theory covers it. Rather than Tenoch having existed 500 years ago the "past, present and future all exist at once." If the true plan set up by the Pyro Dragon and Mavuika blends time to such a degree then perhaps she didn't just establish Tenoch's team to eventually inspire the present day team. Instead she's been establishing teams of Natlanese across the ages and they've all been pulled out of their places in time to do battle where needed. Maybe Tenoch and his team did exist in a time when Natlan's traditions were failing but it wasn't 500 years ago. If this does happen it may mean that Act V's climax will feature all the heroes Mavuika enlisted across the ages fighting alongside our present day team. Something this dramatic would understandably alter the course of fate and Mavuika may need a conduit that transcends fate to make it all work hence needing us to have our own Ancient Name and join the fight.

Another continuity error is Capitano. Well, the role of the Fatui in general. We first heard that Capitano was heading to Natlan all the way back in 2022's Weinlesefest back when Sumeru was new. Then last year when Fontaine was ending Neuvillette told us that Capitano had already arrived and even "thrown his hat into the ring." But in Act II of the Archon Quest he pretty much just got there. There aren't many Fatui encampments in Natlan compared to how many were wandering around Sumeru or Watatsumi. Unlike all the previous regions we see that Natlan is openly antagonistic towards the Fatui. A Natlanese warned Mavuika just that Capitano had come to the stadium. Jean spoke with their agents back in Mondstadt and that was the region where Signora physically assaulted their Archon. Even afterwards Eula needed proof of criminal activity before coming down on the Fatui that were using her uncle. Liyue used diplomacy to neuter the Fatui because of their operation during the Archon Quest, an operation orchestrated by their own Archon. Had Capitano arrived back in 2022 like we were told there should have either been open hostilities visible from the start or something would have already happened to create an uneasy peace. The confrontation between Capitano and Mavuika despite how awesome the cutscene was should have happened in a flashback because the fact that it didn't strongly suggests that Capitano camped out outside Natlan's borders for the last two years twiddling his thumbs until now.

On top of this didn't we just leave a region where part of the story was that the Fatui aren't all bad? One of the key points of the Fontaine Archon Quest and subsequent Arlecchino Character Quest was that we should not hold onto our biases about sides. And Varka not to mention most of the Fatui and even Harbingers have high opinions of Capitano. So what's the first thing Paimon says when we're told about the attack? "The Fatui again! We can't go anywhere without them causing trouble!" I'm sorry for her outburst Peruere. She didn't mean it. I think. Seriously with how many theories I came up with in Fontaine to explain the Fatui operation there I'm getting serious whiplash from the changes in narrative. Are we or aren't we supposed to focus on sides? Make up your mind miHoYo!

And it's continuity errors like these that had me seriously second guessing the Genshin wiki's premature naming of the Masters of Night-Wind. Honestly if miHoYo could make the above mentioned mistakes it wasn't out of the realm of possibility they would screw up naming the tribes after the heavens. Again back then the wiki didn't cite their sources for this guess.

In any case miHoYo's writers have never been this sloppy in the past. It was easy to follow their storytelling and piece it together by using the lore they set out for us to find. This is how I was able to accurately predict what would happen in Inazuma, Sumeru and even the earlier parts of Fontaine. (I would actually predict the ending as well but only by considering what that story would be with bad writing. And that's the version we got!) I have a feeling my meta prediction has proven correct. Genshin has been declining in revenue for over a year now. They had used Fontaine to promote Star Rail because of that decline but Star Rail's profits and player base have not improved in the long run. Without the income needed to properly provide for their employees they may have had to downsize or perhaps their workers saw the writing on the wall and chose to leave the company themselves. Either way the writing in these recent patches feels very subpar compared to how Genshin was in the past.

And if that's the case then perhaps the rest of the Archon Quest might play out in a very simple and hastily put together way, ignoring all of the references being established. Perhaps Mavuika will just require the modern heroes of the six tribes to help her fight against some avatar of the Abyss and keep the Sacred Flame lit. Maybe she'll really be just one of the human Archons and just happen to have sacrificed herself 500 years ago and we'll just have to live with the plothole that the statues were created during the Cataclysm for some reason and not at the end of the Archon War. And what would this avatar of the Abyss be? Probably some Ethereal more suited for Zenless while the Night Realm will be Genshin's version of a Hollow.

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