Well it is still related to Sumeru.

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!

Bifrons is a name in the Ars Goetia. Actually it's our first Earl. The Earls are two ranks above the Presidents like Morax, Haagenti, Osial, Amy and Buer and one rank under the Marquises like Ronova, Marchosius, Decarabian, Andrius and also Naberius. Based just on that alone we may understand its mindset in the chronicle.

Bifrons attempted to subsume humanity again as another attempt at gaining ground in the Archon War. It plainly stated that it was only out for itself and not for the benefit of humanity which does put it closer to the principles compared to Morax and Haagenti who put into play a thousands of years long plan to allow humans to take control of their own destiny. Amy and Buer as well ran their regions with the hope of inspiring the humans in their care, either with the arts or academics. However he hasn't quite gotten to the level of Decarabian or Ronova who contained humans under their power. (Marchosius technically did this too) Had its plan succeeded it might have simply ruled over Natlan without either improving their lives or actually subjugating them. On the other hand, its method rivals Havria's which was always doomed to fail.

Side Note 1: That old theory does actually make interesting implications though. Osial is also a President while Naberius aka Ozvaldo von Hrafnavins is a Marquis like Andrius. This of course could mean that Osial reflects who Morax was prior to meeting Haagenti and while Oz might not care much for humans, he's also technically a spiritual being bonded to Amy and lacking his original Archon power much like Andrius who had taken Razor under his wing.

Side Note 2: Curiously demon Bifrons has the ability to move dead bodies from their original place of burial. That's not too different from the musezi I had theorized might be the consequence miHoYo chose to afflict Natlan with. (Notice how you need to complete the Archon Quest in order to unlock Varesa's Tribal Chronicle suggesting that only after Capitano's actions does Bifrons regain enough strength to cause trouble.) In-game, fungi are known to parasitize a host like a plant or insect. The most infamous one these days would be the cordyceps which creates "zombies" out of infected insects and forces them to move to areas that benefit it at the cost of the insect. That's relatively similar to the myth about the musezi. Bifrons did have mind-control capabilities. It had a Sumeru guy take it to an active volcano where it erupted. If it buried Bifrons the Archon for hundreds of years, we can pretty much guess that Chatraka didn't fair any better.

Side Note 3: The devs must have been chuckling when they came up with Chatraka. It's Hindi for mushroom. The only follower the mushroom Archon had left was literally named mushroom. Cute miHoYo.

Something else interesting about the specific demon miHoYo chose is that Bifrons comes from the epithet "two faces" which is applied to the Roman god Janus. Janus was already referenced in Genshin but at present it's now also the name of a Titan in Star Rail's Amphoreus, one that's very important to the story too. Janus is the god of entrances, beginnings and paths. This was represented in Genshin in Remuria as the Initium Iani and Passage of Ianus. (js are is in Latin) In Star Rail, it's literally the Titan of Passages.

As the "prime fungus" (compare to prime geovishap) we might make this same connection to paths based on Nahida's Second Character Quest where the fungi were forms assumed by the elemental creatures that escaped from Apep. The reason they assumed this form was their adaptability and later on the elementals explained to Nahida how elemental energy facilitates in their ability to transform into better forms. Therefore Bifrons being something of a middle ground for the Archons might take the role of the crossroads that all Archons encounter before deciding whether they'll support humanity's ascension or adhere to the principles.

Side Note: Curiously though the familiars of Bifrons could speak. Some were less eloquent but especially the green topped ones were even snarky. If we compare them to the ones in Nahida's Character Quest they spoke similarly to some of the red topped mushroom. It was explained that the ones in the quest weren't normal fungi and instead elemental beings like the dragons. Therefore it may be possible to propose that those familiars of Bifrons are closer to elemental beings which could then make their creator potentially a dragon in former power level. It then even makes sense why losing the familiars would diminish its power. Elemental beings have power directly related to how much elemental energy they possess, energy which would be divvied up into familiars like Apep's fungi. Just as the fungi were able to power up Apep by joining back into her, it makes sense the opposite is true. (actually until it was revealed that Nahida was Buer, there was a theory or two guessing at the Ars Goetia names of the other Archons and Bifrons was supposed to be hers)

One curious point to make though is that the "Archon War" never made it to Natlan. This is already proven false considering we know the war encompassed the whole world and the establishment of the original Seven was the end of said conflict. (It actually doesn't even make sense for Xbalanque to be the human who was the original Pyro Archon. The new devs for Genshin really don't have a solid handle on the lore yet.) To push the point further, the Archon War's ending also explains that the conflict began as a result of Celestia's intervention into the planet's affairs which includes the defeat of the Seven Sovereigns like Xiuhcoatl whose fate was explained in the World Quest's finale. He got the March 7th treatment.

I would normally have theorized about why Natlan would believe the Archon Quest never applied to them. It would have been interesting to consider their understanding of the conflict and why they separated dragons from the "Archons." It may have further elaborated on the distinction between them as understood by the rest of Teyvat considering we know they aren't different. They had also brought up their own theory that because they were dealing with dragons, there was no room for gods to enter their situation. However it's not like dragons weren't involved in every other region. Even without sovereigns we have Dvalin from Mondstadt and Azhdaha from Liyue. Apep the Dendro Dragon Sovereign was prominent in Sumeru's past such that Sumeru's Divine Nail was the weapon Celestia had used on her and Deshret then fooled her into taking on his forbidden knowledge affliction. The Hydro Dragon pervaded two separate regions with its followers the Bathysmal Vishaps settling in Enkanomiya while it itself would be revived in human form and play a major role in Fontaine's prophecy. Then delving into unconfirmed theory territory, we have the Electro Dragon possessing Yae Miko, Venti having to kill the Archonhood crowned Anemo Dragon and the diminished Geo Dragon still watching over Liyue today. In other words the in-fighting of the dragons in Natlan was the Archon War in Natlan. It then ended with the establishment of the first Pyro Archon who was given Xiuhcoatl's authority in the form of the Pyro Gnosis. The devs could make up for this mistake by excusing it as the Natlanese having been educated differently compared to the rest of Teyvat due to their isolation.

However I don't believe we'll be seeing any of this playing out. Instead I think this will just be another footnote left by these new devs and may even go on to retcon the older lore that undermines it.

Side Note 1: On this same topic, Bifrons apparently thinks its name is just what the humans call him. Yeah that's not what the Ars Goetia names are. Remember way back when how Morax was the name of the Geo Archon but you actually shouldn't call him that because it is seen as disrespectful by the locals? You're meant to refer to him by his human-given title of Rex Lapis despite Morax being his real name and the one the adepti use when speaking to him. Barbatos was also Venti's real name and the name Dvalin his familiar uses. Even by Fontaine, Neuvillette the dragon called Focalors by her Ars Goetia name with no humans present. These aren't the names the humans gave them. They aren't titles that can be shared like Haborym. They are actual names.

Side Note 2: Given how far Mount Tollan is in Natlan, Bifrons and Chatraka would have needed to travel deep into the region in order to reach it. Given the speed at which we see it move in its present form which is established as the form he assumed when traveling with Chatraka, there is no reason why he wouldn't have known about this lack of an Archon War in Natlan. If the dragons really were fighting a separate conflict then Bifrons would have seen this separate and unrelated conflict. I had previously suggested that the Collective of Plenty would be located in the empty space between Vourukasha Oasis and Natlan. This location would have made it more understandable that Bifrons didn't notice the dragons because it would have only traveled across the border from Sumeru. (It is also curious that it wouldn't have known about the war against the Abyss either though this could date it. The Abyss was what powered Nibelung's forces in its conflict during the early stages of the Archon War. Therefore if Bifrons wasn't aware of it, it may have only been born in the middle or even late phases of the war.)

While it is still filler in my mind, it is nice that we can extrapolate this much lore from the Varesa Tribal Chronicle. Hopefully miHoYo doesn't leave it like this and we'll get a future payoff down the road.

In short:

• Bifrons characterization reinforces the inverse Ars Goetia theory where higher ranked demons behave closer in accordance to the Heavenly Principles and against humanity's best interests while lower ranked ones actively undermine the principles.
• Bifrons the demon originates from Janus Bifrons the Roman god of paths and beginnings. Based on his characterization and history he could be a middle ground for all Archons.
• The Natlanese oddly believe the Archon War didn't extend to Natlan however the "Archon" War included the bickering amongst the dragons as well because dragons and gods and slimes are all elemental beings. Additionally the end of the Archon War established the rule of the first Seven. That includes Xbalanque the first Pyro Archon thus Natlan was involved in the Archon War.

PS: Also the named familiars we got (besides the ones with mush- in their names) call out the Hittites for the first time in Genshin. This empire would have been absorbed into Persia once it took over the Levant and Egypt but we hadn't gotten any references to it before. Asmu and Ammuna were royalty. Huzziya was a king from a neighboring kingdom that was taken over by the Hittites.

Topic originally created on April 6th, 2025.