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 article was originally put up on reddit.)
This is just a quick theory. A long while back as I was coming up with my Sumeru theory I started piecing together that each successive region seemed to do the opposite of the region before it in a thematic way.
So in Sumeru we have a nation divided between "the classes" of upscale scholars vs desert dwellers. They reconcile by the end of the quest under joint Academia-Eremite leadership. We have an Archon who is disrespected and ignored. The humans tasked with leadership do their own thing and keep her locked up. The Archon is likely a creation by the original Archon and was given the purpose of succeeding her. We also have a society bent on keeping things the way they are and refusing to move on while the Archon herself is now a child filled with wonder and amazement about the future.
Let's look back at Inazuma. We had a nation united between the regions of Narukami and Watatsumi. It then divided by the end of the quest with Watatsumi becoming an independent nation. We had an Archon who nobody dared disrespect and you couldn't really ignore someone who had a Vision Hunt Decree and Sakoku Decree going on. The humans tasked with leadership carry out every one of her orders and she had to lock herself up. We also have an Archon bent on keeping things the way they were and refusing to allow change while the people held ambitions and were constantly moving into the future.
And Liyue was the same to Inazuma. You had an Archon that saw he was no longer needed by his people and willingly retired vs an Archon that had a stranglehold on her region. He was also in control of the situation afflicting his region the whole time basically masterminding the whole thing. Meanwhile in Inazuma the Archon had no real control over the situation and was being manipulated the whole time. And that goes hand in hand with the Fatui who were pawns in Morax's plans while Ei and her Tenryou were essentially pawns in the Fatui's plan.
But I think it was overtly pointed out when we were transitioning from Mondstadt. Early into the Liyue Archon Quest we spoke to a few NPCs who commented about how Mondstadt's Archon was absentee vs the constant loving watch of Morax over his people.
And of course if each successive region is doing the opposite of the region before then it stands to reason every other region will have stories that resemble each other right? So think about it like this. In Mondstadt despite being an absentee god, Venti is still respected by all in Mondstadt as Barbatos in the same vein as Ei with the Inazumans. In fact Barbatos is the one who receives the respect while Venti is just the local drunkard much like how Ei is known as Baal while her true identity is actually Beelzebul and those who are actually aware of this joke about her sweet tooth and stubbornness. Furthermore while Venti is definitely more competent as a god, both of them weren't involved in their region's Fatui problem while it festered and worsened leading to both being directly attacked by Signora.
Similarly both Liyue and Sumeru are ancient societies that have been set in their ways. We actually start both Archon Quests by learning about these traditions rather than set off on the quest itself like we had in Mondstadt or Inazuma. Upon the death or "death" of their Archon the people fell apart because of how long it had been since they were under their protection. This led to a lack of faith in the new establishment with the adepti and even some Liyue people feeling that the Qixing wouldn't be able to replace Morax and in Sumeru the sages didn't accept Nahida as their new Archon. Even the core theme of the quest itself was similar in that the old god hoped for their regions to move into a new era and so they died. However, the transition was met with hostility until finally the Traveler helped to defeat an enemy god and establish the new order upon their victory.
We can now proof this theory with Fontaine. If the theory holds then Fontaine should follow trends set by Mondstadt and Inazuma. Those would be a false Archon that's not well-respected compared to a true Archon that is. Furina was revealed as a human actress posing as the Hydro Archon and had been treated more like a celebrity than a leader. She was also more playful and silly similar to Venti's human guise. On the other hand Egeria was well-respected and beloved by the people as shown by most of Fontaine's historical accounts. Just like Venti and Ei before her she was helpless against Fatui attack. In fact while Signora was dead by this point Furina was attacked in the same exact way as Venti, with the Harbinger attacking her by surprise for her Gnosis. Finally with respect to Inazuma, Fontaine became the only other region where we met with someone other than the Archon by the end, Yae in Inazuma and then Neuvillette in Fontaine.
With this theory we may be able to predict what we could see in the upcoming Natlan. For example we should be arriving in a region that wants to explain their ancient ways to us much like Liyue and then Sumeru had. Natlan is set to be based on Africa and the Native American populations of the American continent. This culture is as esoteric if not more so than Persia which Sumeru was based on. The story should also focus on a changing of the guard from the old leader to a new establishment.
What are your thoughts on this theory? Does it make sense?
Topic originally created on September 29th, 2022.