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 topic is long and plenty gets covered so I've added a summary at the end.)

With Acts III and IV out of the way (and especially the way miHoYo played it) it seems many of my smaller predictions have come true but the big one, my Hail Mary prediction this year was disproven. Or was it?

I may be coping hard here but there are plenty of loose ends left following the abrupt conclusion to the Archon Quest. I mean technically speaking what we have left is additional extra credit type stuff and the actual conflict Natlan had is already over. But there's so many things still left up in the air and they could end up becoming fully fledged plot holes if they don't get addressed by Act V.

I may be kicking myself but miHoYo's been pretty clever. For the most part I really enjoyed this Archon Quest which I couldn't say about Fontaine. The story itself was really well told and the characters never overstay their welcome. Nobody's a punching bag. There's mostly no drama for the sake of drama (I'll get to that) and we have a reasonable follow-up to Arlecchino telling us not to focus on sides which demonstrates consistency. (still not very consistent with what we knew about the Fatui beforehand but at least it didn't single out Fontaine as some weird blip) So let's dissect this story shall we?

So I said that Acts III and IV would be Fatui-centric and explain the motives behind Capitano. Check. I said that we'd run into a bunch of setbacks in trying to get the Ancient Name and defeating the Abyss. Check. It's not clean but I predicted that a shining shade helped with this elaborate plan in Natlan for combatting the Abyss. Back then it was because Waxaklahun Ubah Kan translates to Quetzalcoatl and Quetzalcoatl is related to Venus which then relates to Istaroth the shining shade. It isn't her but Ronova has been revealed to be a shade. Check. (Actually it may even extend to my Python King thing where Ochkanatlan would translate to "land of my Python King" and now Ronova plays the role of Idemili the patron goddess of Africans who revere the King Python. This would mean Ronova played a central role in establishing Natlan to begin with, maybe facilitating the fallen Pyro Dragon into becoming the First "Pyro Archon" of a nascent Natlan before Xbalanque.) Also Ronova defied Phanes. Check. The Pilgrimage was just a bandage on the Abyss problem. Check. The Gnosis is powering the Sacred Flame. Partial check. I mean it is. It was central to Mavuika's strategy but it was still just a piece of it and instead we actually have the new shade Ronova for that. Natlan's Ley Lines were damaged not during the Cataclysm, not because they were inherently weak but rather during Nibelung's attack against Celestia during the age of dragons. Check. We learn from Yohualtecuhtin that the dragons were already trying to fix them. Imagine the beings that controlled the natural order of Teyvat needing to resort to tech to fix their own Ley Lines. You know how easy it was for Neuvillette to create a whole nation of humans? Yeah doesn't seem like they should have had much trouble unless something alien damaged those things like say the Abyss that Nibelung used. And the dragon age ended long before the Cataclysm.

Finally the thing I got right that I actually shake my head at is that Capitano really did just get to Natlan. Or he got there when we were told he got there and then spent over a year twiddling his thumbs until like a few days before we got there lol. Seriously you see exactly what he did in Natlan because of Ororon. The scene at the end of Act II was them starting to work together meaning even that wasn't prepared before Capitano headed straight for the stadium lol. At best he showed up a few days before us to go find Citlali, failed and then appeared in Act II lol. How did he "throw his hat into the ring" huh Neuvillette? That hidden quest that relates to the Local Legend might be a sign of previous activity but we really only know about the one visit and Ororon was with him already.

A quick little rundown too for my Character Traits Theory. We now have a bunch of Natlan characters right? They all work towards that theory. Kachina is defined by her resilience. She keeps trying to get into the Night Warden Wars. That's a Geo level of commitment. Same goes for our jeweler turned librarian Xilonen who is very dedicated to her craft as clearly shown by her Tribal Chronicle. Mualani on the other hand is dedicated to being a tour guide but there's no goal to that is there? So unlike Geo's defined goals like becoming a hero of Natlan or creating Ancient Names for the sake of Natlan Mualani's thing with tourism is just that; she wants to be the best tour guide she can. (basically if Natlan didn't have the Abyss issue going on Kachina and Xilonen wouldn't be fixated on their tasks but Mualani would still be a tour guide) She's also the flashiest of the characters so far with her inflatable shark surfboard thing, her maracas and her body floatee thing. Kinich schemes and tells lies when necessary which is Dendro. I suppose you could also consider his Malipo weighing the scales thing as deep analysis tied to Dendro's connection to wisdom. We have Citlali who is isolated but cares, being seen as a mean bully and threatening physical harm on Ororon despite showing she obviously cares deeply for everybody. Chasca is likely going to be haunted by what happened in the quest so that's already Anemo but she had that thing with Abyssal Corruption already which is also a cross she bears. Finally you have Iansan and Ororon and Ororon's whole "missing a piece of his soul" thing is totally larger than life while his "gramps and granny" stuff is definitely immature. Iansan hasn't really shown immaturity or "onee-san"ness yet but her whole body building health expert thing is also definitely larger than life. Plus there's still a matter of her being closest to Mavuika which hasn't played out yet. Did I say this paragraph would be quick? My bad.

Side Note: It actually started out as a joke but after playing Yupanqui's Turnfire we do in fact learn that Kinich formed a contract with Ajaw and it does have consequences similar to Changsheng's contract with Baizhu. I was not counting on that one lol. But I did peg the part where the fakeout attempt by miHoYo with the "more sacrifices are necessary" was going to play out in Kinich's Tribal Chronicles despite the livestream making it seem like Kinich was the traitor instead of Ororon.

However on the other side of things I had said that by the end of Act IV we'd have a beaten Mavuika because of the fruition of Capitano's plan. (actually Sandrone's) Instead we skipped that and went straight to the ending of Act V, the victory. Weird. That one almost helps the "v5.2 will be filler" theories people had since what exactly do we have for Act V? A whole act where we just follow Mavuika into the Night Kingdom and kick ass? I mean sure there's the little part about saving Mavuika but to be fair the dialogue in Act IV practically spelled out that it was a non-issue. And I totally got Capitano's character and the underlying plot with Sandrone wrong. I have no idea why Capitano and Arlecchino are made both benevolent and honorable. Again in the commedia that these guys take their names from both of them suck. Capitano just like Scaramouche is a braggart living a lie. Scara showed that with his pompous attitude hiding inner insecurities of abandonment but where's that for Capitano? And Arlecchino does show her pining for Signora side (not sure if she'd also show that for Columbina since that's an even more direct connection now) but she's a Zanni character meaning a fool. I suppose Pierro asked her if she was a fool and would only care if she was but that doesn't mean she is.

Also sadly there weren't any shoutouts to Liyue. I mean I suppose we first learned about the Loom of Fate in Liyue during We Will Be Reunited but that's still a Dainsleif quest in my book and doesn't count. I suppose in general we have shoutouts to it though. After all Liyue wasn't really affected by the Cataclysm or even the Abyss. But it was deeply affected by the fallen dragons of Nibelung during the Archon War. The yaksha were busy cleaning that up and Xiao's still doing it. Still it's definitely weaker than the shoutouts we had to Mondstadt last patch. (well I suppose I did say Mavuika's Character Quest and that'll be happening right before Lantern Rite so maybe this prediction still has a leg to stand on)

"You heard something here, didn't you?"

I will say the "you heard something from here" stuff does still link up to why I came up with Sandrone even though it's most likely too late for a Sandrone appearance to make sense. Something is definitely off about Capitano.

If not Sandrone then I think that given the scenes we got about the subject in the way they were presented, he might be some amalgamation of Khaenri'ahn souls and not just a single guy. This detail fit with Sandrone because she makes robots and in Honkai the character she's an expy of split her mind into several personas. This has led to several theories about Sandrone actually being one of her robot puppets or that she too split her mind into her puppets. However without the Sandrone part of the plot maybe the idea is that "The Captain" is also a broken soul like Ororon who would have lost his sanity long ago or devolved into a hilichurl. He was saved by Ayizu who then taught him to draw in the souls of others to stabilize himself. Maybe that's even how he saved Ororon and how he helped his Fatui Agent. The thing Ororon supposedly heard was the cries of disembodied souls floating around inside of Capitano. (I should probably point out that "the Captain" is always titled as such for his lines whereas the other Harbingers don't have those quotes, most recently seen with the Knave. The quotes could be a subtle yet obvious hint about it.)

Is it still possible for Sandrone to show up? I still had my reasons for having chosen Sandrone for a Natlan appearance and they still make sense thematically. But no it's too late to have her role effectively portrayed in this story so I hope they're not planning on doing this anymore. There's only Act V left and that's not enough time to properly develop it. Instead we're on this competent Capitano story now where his dark secret is that he's not really capable of staying conscious like Dainsleif or Pierro and should have turned into a raving hilichurl by now had it not been for him being with Ayizu at the time. Who knows? Maybe he's the one that killed Ayizu and it was his parting gift to teach him how to absorb souls to reinvigorate his own. I think it might be cool that the reason Capitano wants to protect Natlan so much is out of the debt he owes Ayizu and that he will return this favor in the end, foreshadowed by his words at the end of Act IV.

In fact if this is the story then Act V might still be able to use that New Fire Ceremony prediction of mine to end the Pilgrimages and the use of the Night Kingdom. They could have Capitano sacrifice himself and the souls swirling around inside of him to fully restore Natlan's Ley Lines without affecting any of Natlan's history. Teyvat would just end up forgetting about him but that's where the Traveler comes in. They already have to remember Rukkhadevata after all. And this wouldn't be the first Harbinger to erase himself from Teyvat's memories either. What's another victim of the Abyss to our Fourth Descender? We have to be a living record of all of Teyvat's history anyway.

How would this play out though? I've seen another theory where Capitano will once again challenge Mavuika for the Gnosis and this time he also wants her title of Archon. In this way her life debt becomes his. I doubt that's how these things would go. I mean Ronova's deal with her wasn't with the Archon. Mavuika's life became the price from her plan started 500 years ago. It doesn't really matter if she's Archon or not. Her "death" I think will play out separately and in a way similar to how prophecy played out in Fontaine. That said this fight will still take place because Capitano will be our Weekly Boss. It may be part of Capitano's ploy to sacrifice himself and it may even play into Mavuika's own arc regarding the "death."

I'm not sure if we'd find out about the sacrifice before it happens. If we were to then it should only make sense Mavuika would oppose that as well. In that version I would say that perhaps with the highly respectable Capitano at the helm, the souls inside of him become willing to die with him and we will be left with no choice but to accept their decision. If not then perhaps the fight is the trigger that allows the sacrifice to proceed. Maybe Ronova needed Archon power as a catalyst. And of course there's the Wayob side of it so that could play a part as well seeing as how we're not done with that Night Kingdom area yet.

Yet another crown

Thanks to Mavuika showing off her Gnosis we now know more or less that only Zhongli has a Rook Gnosis while everybody else has a Queen Gnosis. Originally it was assumed that the seven Gnoses would reflect the seven chess pieces of the back row minus the king piece. (some theories included the king piece) But after Ei's Gnosis was revealed to also be a queen the theories broke into two camps. Some wanted to keep believing that the Gnosis we saw was a bishop but it looks nothing like a bishop if you do a Google for it. With the little kabuto design at the top of the drum it's pretty clearly a queen just like Venti's with its own crown design. Mavuika's now looks similar to Ei's with a sun design instead of a drum but again a sun would not reflect a bishop but rather divinity, the divine right to rule that is bestowed on a queen. (it is also cute that miHoYo showed us the Electro and Pyro Visions while skipping the Hydro and Dendro ones since in the original Chess Theories these elements were paired - Electro and Pyro were supposed to be the knights while Dendro and Hydro were the bishops though some theories flipped this for some reason)

Based on my revised theory about it following the Electro Gnosis reveal, the reason why Zhongli is the only one with a non-queen piece is because he's a true Archon, one of the old dragons that was used by Phanes after the fall of the dragons. Meanwhile we already know why Venti would have a queen piece. He's not actually the original Anemo Archon. That was Decarabian who became troublesome so Phanes had Istaroth replace him with her own creation. As a created Archon Venti isn't a former dragon and therefore more like a "promoted" Archon like what happens to pawn chess pieces. Ei is also a promoted Archon the first actual human ascended Archon we have in the game. Mavuika is going to be revealed as a special case since their so-called human Archons are not really Archons at all. At best I think we can suggest that they use the power of the Gnosis combined with the power from Ronova in order to take on Archon-like powers (without dying) and Archon memories to facilitate their role. But if a human were to ascend to Archonhood they would be like Ei, also an immortal, very powerful and subject to prolonged erosion which btw we haven't really heard about for a long time. Anyway whoever the true Pyro Archon is (I'm still hanging onto my theory about that for now) it's going to be a similar case to Ei and Venti. Maybe Ronova played a role in it just like Istaroth.

Side Note 1: Chess Theories usually suggest the pawn pieces are the allogenes while others suggest it's the Traveler siblings. I gravitate more to the allogenes side and this revelation does not change anything. Considering Venti was a creation by Istaroth and the Pyro Archons are human stand-ins they would still be "promoted pawns" even if Venti wasn't an allogene at the start.

Side Note 2: Regarding Decarabian - since I think the general belief in the fandom is that the Anemo Archon stuff was a mistake in localization - miHoYo has yet to fix this supposed mistranslation since v1.0 while they have made many other changes like to the mistranslation of Rukkhadevata's gender. They also approved multiple languages calling Decarabian the Anemo Archon including Turkish and Vietnamese which came later on. As such it was not a mistranslation.

Angels

So now there are angels in Genshin

But actually I think miHoYo's being sneaky again. See it would be nice to take it at face value, angels and dragons and gods and elementals. The thing is though this game has provided plenty of lore about how Teyvat works and therefore it's not quite as simple as different names mean different beings. We already know for a fact that elemental beings include things like Nahida who is an Archon and dragons who are the strongest of the elemental beings. We know that adepti like Cloud Retainer are also elemental beings and even humanity used to belong to the elemental nature of Teyvat until Phanes separated them from it.

Ok but angels are still angels right? Wrong. I've said this many times before but there's no such term as Archon in the Chinese version of this game. Genshin is a Chinese game after all so if the primary demographic doesn't have the term then it's just a localized term. So what's "Archon" in Chinese? Demon god. Now what did we learn in Sunday School? Demons are fallen angels. What do we know about our band of fallen angels, namely the Seven? Well there are theories that suggest Zhongli our Geo Archon fell from his original place in Celestia. Personally I theorized instead that he just fell from his role as dragon into the role of an Archon under the thumb of the usurper. Either way though it links the Archons to the angels which lines up with what I've been saying all along, Archon 101.

Seelies are Archons are gods are demon gods are elementals are dragons. And now they're also angels. It likely just depends on the role they serve. These are all elemental beings native to Teyvat but they're at different power levels and perhaps these terms were the ancient dragon civilization's titles. You were a sovereign if you were the most powerful elemental dragon of that period. You were angels if you served under them. The angels devolved and then humans named them Seelies but the rest of them can also devolve. Andrius turned into a ghost. Marchosius turned into a plushie. Oz aka Naberius turned into a bird composed of Electro energy. The weakest were called humans and struggled to survive until the Heavenly Principles put them in the spotlight. "Lucifer" (Nibelung) rebelled against this new order and was cast out into the depths of the Abyss.

This isn't new to miHoYo's brand of storytelling. They've found ways to connect seemingly unrelated stories, religious beliefs, cultures and histories together. It's one of their best attributes imo.

What's in a(n Ancient) Name?

We don't get much information about how this Ancient Name and Ode of Resurrection stuff actually works in any of the four acts of the Archon Quest. However we get almost a how-to guide of it in Xilonen's Tribal Chronicles.

From the events of the story and corresponding dialogue we can gather that all an Ancient Name is is an index for memories. These memories are of course tied to the Ley Lines aka Irminsul which - as we've known since Ei's Second Character Quest nevermind the whole Sumeru story - is the repository for all memories of Teyvat. So with this index you now have an anchor point for the individual that bears the name. Why do they have to be selective? Well it's similar to how Visions are bestowed. (You read my short but not really short paragraph above right?) A person needs to embody a certain character trait in order for their existence to relate to the indexed quality. In other words Kachina is Uthabiti because she showed her resilience. Her whole story up to this point has shown how resilient she is and so with that quality her Ancient Name can latch onto the memories that make her up. Without it it's like having an index for a history book about a book from the literature section. It's not going to be there.

Now how does that translate to the Ode of Resurrection? Well in the chronicle we were missing a few pieces. Tlazolli was going to use another girl to fill with the memories of her daughter. That's because she's only human. She can utilize the Ancient Name technology to gather her daughter's memories but she can't revive the dead. Instead what we're missing is the power of life.... or in this case power over death. Ronova is the Ode of Resurrection. She's also the Sacred Flame. The ode only works because using her power you can undo death and create a new physical body for the memories to inhabit. It's like the people are composed of memories but they need a special glue to actually stay together in one piece, a physical body. (actually you can think of it like in Fontaine why dissolved humans are considered dead despite how they should have just resumed being Oceanids)

Now of course I have this theory where you know gods have created life before and dragons have created life before and even humans are capable of creating at least simpler forms of life. So did Natlan really need Ronova considering the cost of using her power? Probably not. But my guess is they also wouldn't have been able to cobble together the idea of using an index to latch onto the dead and resurrect people with it. I mean if that was the case you'd think old man Geo would have thought of it and o I don't know made bodies for any of his fallen adepti. This does fit too because we have the work of the other shades to compare. Istaroth had to teach Enkanomiya to create the Dainichi Mikoshi. She created Venti to stop Decarabian's paranoia and assisted Makoto into becoming the Sacred Sakura. Paimon created Deshret and Nabu to try breaching the false sky. These things probably need a higher being just to concoct.

Going back to Xilonen though I want to bring up drama for the sake of drama. So one of the reasons people really hated Star Wars Rise of Skywalker (there were many but this one relates here) was that Rey ended up killing Kylo Ren but then she goes and heals him with the Force which is the first time in the movies where we see this happen. (otherwise you wonder why anybody who gets stabbed with a lightsaber can't be healed from death) Anyway later in the movie she does a hero sacrifice thing and dies. So Kylo goes and heals her back to life. And then he dies lol. The purpose for that I would imagine was to get people sad about the deaths but it's kind cheapened by the undoing of those deaths within minutes of it happening. Well what do you call it when there's a literal Ode of Resurrection to bring people back from the dead? And then that system breaks. And then we find out the Night Kingdom has an angel that created it. And to fix the Ley Line, this angel has to die. O and if not that well we can use the Gnosis but it'll kill all the souls in the Night Kingdom. Ok so we don't do that and instead Ororon wants to sacrifice himself to do the same thing. But we prevent that too. But o no we can't prevent one death but it's necessary since it leads to awakening the last hero of the six tribes. Poor girl served as nothing more than a plot device. And then Mavuika wants us to get an Ancient Name. But to do that Xilonen needs to die. And then we find out that to beat the Abyss Mavuika has to die. LOL! There's really only so many times you can use death as high stakes in a story before it gets old. (o and if you read the little note you're left with at the end of Act IV you find out some other people you know have died off screen lol)

And the way it was described why Xilonen had to die doesn't really make sense does it? How do Name Engravers survive if their whole job is to create Ancient Names but it costs them their life to forge one? Remember how it was explained in Act II? If it costs a life to make an Ancient Name then how many lives would need to be sacrificed to keep the stock of Ancient Names going for the last 500 years seeing how if no new names could be created they'd be out of them by now according to the Archon herself. (and that's just if you want to low ball it because those Ancient Names have been crafted since Xbalanque's era and not just the Cataclysm)

Well at the very least the Mavuika death thing based on how they described it isn't even an issue. I mean of course it was meant to be and that'll likely be what Act V is about but death and fate are different. Only fate dictates that a thing has to happen at a time and place. Death just needs to happen. It's a rule. Well guess what? As a rule humans are mortal and will die eventually under normal circumstances. So yes Mavuika if she's slated to die but not from a specific cause or at a specific time will still in fact die. Dying of old age is still a death after all. So based on how they described it, nothing needs to happen. Mavuika will die. One day. Like any other human being lol. Pretty sure that's not what they were going for but those are the words they chose to use.

And so I keep talking about plot holes right? What plot holes? Let's get into that in this section.

The Statue of the Seven looks like Mavuika. If these statues look like the current Archon then we wouldn't have had to have Ei be a twin to Makoto, Nahida be a clone of Rukkhadevata and Furina be an aspect of Focalors to hide this story element. If the statues were only created during the Cataclysm then people from that time like Clothar Alberich and Dainsleif would have pointed that out at some point. We even visit Nahida's statue with Clothar and he doesn't bring up how these things are new to Teyvat in his anti-god anti-Celestia rants. We were with Dainsleif when the upside-down Venti statue was being used to create the Loom of Fate. He might have brought that up in any of the following times we talked about that event. Yet there's nothing. The only way for that to be possible is if the statues predate the Cataclysm and don't magically change. They should have been set up by the end of the Archon War because that's what their purpose is as previous lore had brought up. So unless Mavuika is also some kind of twin the statue looks like her because she's the original Pyro Archon, predating Xbalanque. Or of course, it's a plot hole.

Side Note: It is a little funny too that she basically struck the Abyss "in the name of" herself. Remember that part?

She said "in the name of the Pyro Archon Haborym" not "in the name of Xbalanque" or "by the power I possess as the Pyro Archon Haborym." This proves the Pyro Archon is an Archon or even an ascended human and not just an ordinary human borrowing Archon power. Only the demon gods have these kinds of names. And the Haborym thing also works towards my description of Aztec sacrifice rituals. After all the sacrifice which in Act V would be played by Mavuika only acts as the Archon which is what we've so far been told, a human taking on the role of Archon. But here's the thing: they are taking on the role of an actual god, in this case Tezcatlipoca. So who is Tezcatlipoca in this story? Haborym. So even if Mavuika doesn't turn out to be the true Pyro Archon miHoYo would still need to address this and present us with a Haborym. (Right and once that is addressed we'll be able to get our Pyro Traveler. After all the way that works is the Traveler resonates with the strongest source of the local element. Well I suppose they could revive the Wayob back into the Pyro Dragon since that's also something that needs to happen eventually but my money's on Haborym. Or a plot hole lol)

And actually it's still more likely that Mavuika is that Archon. Remember Murata the Lady of Fire? Progenitor of the Natlanese previously called the "Muratans" because of poor localization? That's what Venti tells Vennessa. I mean her name isn't Murata but she is definitely the Pyro Archon from long before the Cataclysm and based on Venti's words Natlan fights in her name which Mavuika gave away when she fought "in the name of the Pyro Archon Haborym." And therefore Xbalanque cannot be Haborym either. Finally as we actually see Vennessa and her tribe, where are all the red-heads with the hardy bodies? Mavuika is a red head. She's "Murata" but why are Natlan's people not looking all that similar to Vennessa? Seriously some of them are way too pasty for it. Whatever happened necessarily has to be unrelated to the Cataclysm but something had to have happened. Unless of course, plot hole.

Side Note: Speaking of which Zhongli all the way back in Liyue's Archon Quest describes Natlan's Archon as "war rages like a flame." That fits well with Venti's description of a god of war but since Zhongli is speaking in the modern day exactly which human was he talking about who rages like a flame? Mavuika? Happy bubbly Mavuika? Not likely. But she's the modern day Archon just like the Tsaritsa is the modern day Cryo Archon who he teases about by trailing off when he gets to her. So this "war rages like a flame" must be talking about the same Pyro Archon that Venti was talking about and not any of the humans posing as Archon. After all unlike Venti who embodies freedom or Ei who really really fought for eternity what are any of these human stand-ins really doing? War? Or figuring out a way to stop the war? That makes them more gods of peace no? Gods of cherishing life? I mean seriously Ei fits better as the god of war by comparison. The Inazuma Archon Quest was a civil war that she started. Her backstory showed that she was just a blunt instrument through which to conduct war. You guys ever play God of War? That's a god of war, someone who thrives on the conflict. Or taken from a Genshin perspective maybe a yaksha who cannot thrive in peacetime. This god of war, Haborym is who we'll meet in v5.3 and then probably talk about through Mavuika's Character Quest where she comes to terms with who she really is.

And there's actually more to this. Back in Act II we're shown a photo that makes it seem like Mavuika was from Huitztlan. Then in Act IV we're shown that she really is from that tribe. Here's the problem: Kinich is also from that tribe. Before he awakened his Ancient Name exactly how would Mavuika fool Mr. Turnfire that she's from the same tribe? When did any of the things she might bring up happen in the tribe? Why doesn't Kinich or anybody else in the tribe know about that? How and when did Mavuika win the Pilgrimage to claim the position of Archon from the previous Archon? Things fall apart when you bring it up right? There's a really clean way to fix this of course but it requires the use of a power that Natlan could have also used to solve its problems, namely that Loom of Fate which can both create fake memories and brand new Ley Lines.

Of course there's another problem with this. If Mavuika was just an ancient Huitztlanian then her family should look the part right? Take a quick tour around the tribe. Notice a problem between Mavuika's family and literally all the other people of the tribe? They all wear green. Hine and Haumia are wearing very unique outfits that aren't present on any other NPCs. Curiously her dad's very typical Huitztlanian complete with big green hat. So even if we did the Loom of Fate route, Mavuika isn't who she says she is. I have a theory about the tribes that there weren't just six and instead there were eight. However these two lost tribes were either destroyed during the Cataclysm, more likely even earlier or there will be some other explanation. It could be that Mavuika felt sympathy for this tribe and thus created memories to remember Haumia and Hine from that tribe. Could it be because the red color meant they were a Pyro based tribe which lined up with Mavuika's own elemental affinity? We may learn this in v5.3. Or of course it could be left a plot hole. O and you can't just say that this was 500 years ago so the uniforms might have changed. Tenoch was wearing a Meztli outfit showing which tribe he was exiled from.

Finally there's the matter of her transporting herself 500 years into the future. The way it's described it would essentially be dying and then using the Ode of Resurrection to revive herself. However as Act II showed us there's a time limit on reviving a person in the Night Kingdom. No human soul can last 500 years. So there's only one explanation for this and that's that Mavuika wasn't human. As Yae's Character Quest showed us youkai can outlast humans in death. We've seen adepti like Pervases that can remain conscious for thousands of years after death. And it was pointed out specifically that this is the difference between the weak humans and these more powerful supernatural beings. So either Mavuika is as well or plot hole. And with that we can get off the Mavuika related potential plot holes miHoYo created for themselves.

Side Note: Right and there's also a point about how Natlan lacks the gods needed to "curse" humans with extended life. Well we already know that's a lie. Ronova is the one guiding their actions at least since the time of Xbalanque. Ronova is a shade of Celestia so she is directly capable of cursing humans since the only time we've seen that happen has been from a Celestia curse. So again something else had better be going on and Act V is all miHoYo has left to fix all this stuff.

Xilonen's Tribal Chronicle also expands on another prediction of mine. I had said that with some of the inconsistencies of Natlan lore that memory manipulation like the kind we saw in Sumeru and from Caribert would be central. Well what was the main plot of the chronicle? Memory manipulation. It hasn't played out yet in the Archon Quest but I have to believe there was a reason for miHoYo putting so much emphasis on it. Otherwise it's a plot hole and curiously one of miHoYo's own manufacture. They didn't have to put so much of this consistent lore into this story. It's like putting up a big neon sign in front of the secret you want to keep hidden.

The timeline is still messed up too. Tenoch's gang is now firmly a 500 year old crew who grew up with Mavuika or mentored her. Except they died in a time before the Mare Jivari was named and that's dated to 1000+ years ago. You can't have it both ways. Either Tenoch lived far earlier than Mavuika keeps telling us or he time traveled to a point before the Mare Jivari got its name and the Wandering Troupe from v1.0 (localization that has also yet to be revised) visited it. It's kinda like Nechca's memories and the memories people had of her. Or you know Caribert in Sumeru. Unless that's addressed in Act V it's, repeat after me, a plot hole.

Mavuika's timeline doesn't line up with the events of Natlan's backstory either. Why would nobody remember that she was a Huitztlanian from the Cataclysm yet remember everybody else including fellow Huitztlanian Burkina who apparently she grew up and competed with as friends? Even if she was the worst Archon and they wanted to forget about her or something, she's got an Ancient Name that survived the ages and derived from Xbalanque himself. You ain't forgetting that. The only way for this to make sense is with heavy memory manipulation. Hey look, we're back to the consistent details leading to Xilonen's quest! Big neon sign. Basically Mavuika can't be who she says she is even if her own memories suggest it to be true. It's just rather annoying that we got so much reinforcement of that in both Act II and Act IV because it might cheapen it to undo that in Act V. It's like Heath Ledger's many stories about the Joker's scars. If it's not real you're not going to have an invested audience. (Does anybody still remember Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight?) Right now players are invested in this 500 year old Mavuika who befriended the heroes of Natlan and then sacrificed herself and will have to do so again. If that ends up being a fake memory the truth had better be incredible and how are you fitting that into a single Act V? (see I had suggested that Mavuika would release in v5.2 as per usual for Archons and therefore get her Character Quest which would then reveal the truth so that we can then wrap things up in Act V, justifying its delay this year)

Side Note: O right and there's one more thing. Travail. Dainsleif said that when Mavuika tells us about the whole "victors burn bright while the losers must turn to ash" she has her reasons. We have yet to hear this reason because she's never actually said this line to us. We heard it from the Natlanese and she's had a cutscene now where Ronova is revealed to have come up with the phrase but what does that mean? Still needs to be addressed.

"Natlan had it the worst." This is probably the most consistent the four acts have been. Natlan was hit by the Cataclysm the worst. That's because it has weak Ley Lines. But we already know that's not true because pardon me if I'm wrong but life-threatening debilitating disease that can only be cured by literally erasing the existence of a god sounds much worse than anything going on in Natlan. Also a god having to sacrifice herself to become a tree to reinforce the Ley Lines just to prevent the entire nation from collapsing to the Abyss sounds much worse than anything we've seen out of Natlan. I mean everybody prophecized to dissolve into water and leave the Archon broken and crying by herself even sounds worse than that. Seriously how would you even begin to compare what Natlan went through to the stuff we've already seen? Worst? Hardly. Not with tropical hot spring paradises and a sprawling jurassic landscape. (Haha you could even look at the anachronisms behind the nation's design to attack that claim because in my humble opinion roller blades, DJ equipment, drill cars, an inflatable surfboard that can temporarily ride over lava and even sunglasses all point to a nation far ahead in technology to anything we've seen so far. Ok maybe not the AI and human-like robots of Snezhnaya but seriously Natlan has a 1970s American lifestyle which is far ahead of even steampunk Fontaine.) And seriously if we're keeping score I'll take Abyssal Corruption from the last 500 years over God Remains Corruption from the last 3700 years in Liyue lol. Poor Xiao's like "does my suffering mean nothing to you?" Anyway there's another consistently brought up subject that conflicts with this on its own. Nation of Dragons. Old dragon civilization. Xbalanque set up all of Natlan's rules against the Abyss like the Ode of Resurrection and Ancient Names. As revealed by the "angel" the dragons were already dealing with the weak Natlan Ley Lines. In other words none of this stuff has to do with the Cataclysm. Natlan's problems are from the fight between "the Descender and the dragons" which was part of my predictions. So if this isn't addressed in Act V then that's a plot hole. (I mean otherwise it's really really simple to solve Natlan's Ley Line problems and it would even fall in line with the dramatic twist revealed in Act IV. Just have Mavuika pull a Makoto to strengthen those Ley Lines. A single sacrifice is all that's necessary and Inazuma had it worse from what we've seen so far. It was the closest to the Dark Sea. It's Ley Lines nearly rotted through. O and let's say you needed a "higher power" to accomplish this? Yeah so we've got Ronova on tap. She's not Istaroth but she's the same as Istaroth lol. Shining Shade + Archon + dramatic story = Tree that strengthens Ley Lines = Profits!)

We've now visited that hidden Night Kingdom area that daring players found during v5.0. However we didn't really do anything there did we? All that we saw was that central Wayob totem and then the scene shifted to us talking to Ororon and Capitano. So why would you come up with such an elaborate area just to have a two minute conversation? You wouldn't. And we also didn't see the Divine Nail that was frozen up above the totem. So that had better come into play in Act V. And we know the Divine Nails predate the Cataclysm thanks to the ones we've seen so far in Dragonspine, the Chasm and Ay-Khanoum. Essentially all of these plot holes converge on a single plot point: The Cataclysm wasn't the issue in Natlan. It's something else that's far older. That's where the real story is. It can still be related to the Abyss but it isn't the Cataclysm. And miHoYo needs to address that with only one act to go.

There was a plot hole with Capitano's attack against Mavuika in Act II but that has since been resolved by Act IV. Actually they did much better here than back in Fontaine where Arlecchino was just a pure saint of a person for some reason. At least here Capitano is still antagonistic but only because his methods are destructive. Once a better way was shown to him he was willing to abide by it and live up to Arlecchino's line to us about not focusing on sides. (still doesn't fix everything else the Fatui and Harbingers have done though) But we actually had another dip into this plot hole with Kinich's Tribal Chronicle. In it the Abyss Order is now not necessarily a side we should focus too much on either. Only the key players might need smiting but the rest like the pencil pushing Enjou/Sanka could even be useful. I mean the man saved a Saurian! And apparently the ability to generate new Ley Lines is a good thing. Had these dodo brains known about the Loom of Fate they could avoid all that melodrama of "all the souls being destroyed" or "Ororon plans to sacrifice himself" or "but I can reshape the Ley Lines by -wait for it- sacrificing myself" and just use the Loom consequence free. It seems to make the Abyss Order seem not too bad doesn't it? But Acts III and IV show the Abyss as just pure malevolence and the order are still using its power after all. So are we or are we not supposed to focus on sides? Make up your mind miHoYo lol

Side Note: Right and going back to that Loom of Fate business, we could potentially resolve this Ley Line problem with that Capitano sacrificing himself thing I brought up before. It may still be melodrama but at least it would serve multiple lore purposes. His sacrifice would be the ultimate sign of the potential good will of the Fatui and the Harbingers, something that we really should take to heart as we move on to Snezhnaya. On top of that he's Khaenri'ahn remember? He should be immortal and suffering erosion. He's even hinted at how he should be a hilichurl on top of that. So if his sacrifice frees him from that curse and he actually dies like we saw Halfdan die then this shows there is hope for Khaenri'ah. We will find a way to break the curse despite Dainsleif telling us it's impossible. So we'll see in Act V is that's the "final battle" and maybe even the "final foe" Capitano was talking about.

Coming off of potential holes is questionable storytelling.

Remember how old the Abyss is in this game's run? We were introduced to it all the way back in the beginning. We know it definitely affects elemental beings like Venti who was infected by Dvalin's curse just because we interrupted him. Nahida then kept that consistent because that's why Rukkhadevata needed to not only die but be permanently erased from existence. And we were terrified that Nahida would go the same way, indirectly realizing that the Abyss can't affect us. However in that same time we saw that the Abyss doesn't directly affect humans at least not without extended exposure or willing absorption. In the former we had the Chasm where heavy collections of the stuff slowly affected people's health. And even then you could just leave and slowly recover. If you willingly absorb the Abyss then you just warp into a creature of the Abyss like an Abyss Mage or our good buddy Enjou.

So why are Natlanese so vulnerable to Abyssal Corruption? I'd call this a plot hole but we've seen too many cases of it across 4 out of 5 acts that I don't think there's a way to fix this without sounding like a retcon. For some reason Natlanese are just more susceptible. So I list this as questionable storytelling because I think it's just a way to raise the stakes. If people can drop like flies just from being in contact with the Abyss or by taking a bad hit then this "war" suddenly feels more risky unlike pretty much all of the other close calls with the Abyss we've seen in other nations.

Also what exactly are the parameters to victory here? We have this 500 year old system of Pilgrimages and Night Warden Wars (which is actually older but again let's not talk plot holes here) that was set up so that Natlan could keep pushing the Abyss back. Except the way it's presented it's as if these missions are absolutely necessary to push it back right? So doesn't that mean any time they fail the Abyss gains ground? We haven't seen them gaining any ground. Or losing any ground. Honestly considering all the failures we've heard about in the past it's like the consequences of failing aren't really that dire. Except now. Now for some reason even a victory is dire because remember Kachina died but they still won and yet Metzli got attacked because the Abyss was gaining ground. So if victories still let the Abyss gain ground while failures don't actually let it gain ground what was the point of these Pilgrimages? Ultimately it seems like it was just a way for miHoYo to justify calling this nation a Nation of War without actually making things look warlike for a kid-friendly game. Seriously the whole Archon Quest should have looked like Act IV based on what we're told about the situation and then the Act IV part should have looked like WarCraft. In my early predictions I was thinking this would be a nation of endless battles with conniving factions trying to gain any footholds they could into other territories. All this for the sake of war as their Pyro Archon was unable to bring peace in a Nation of Dragons. I thought this would be a very difficult to navigate place because we could get caught up in a fight at any time. Not you know chilling out with the hip hop and break dancing or having a nice relaxing soak in the hot spring while people brought us milk and cookies. This is a Nation of War? I think Inazuma would disagree lol

And that brings me to this endgame plan. So maybe it required 500 years worth of memories or something. We're not really told this explicitly but there had to be a reason why they needed heroes using the same names from 500 years into the future in order to put Mavuika's plan into action. Here's the thing: From back in the plot holes section we know the Cataclysm wasn't the real issue with the Abyss. Again Xbalanque is the one that set up the Pilgrimages, Night Warden Wars, Sacred Flame, Night Kingdom and Ode of Resurrection. So why would they need any of that before the Cataclysm? Thousands of years before the Cataclysm? They wouldn't. So this problem actually started back then and back then the tribes were together just like Mavuika said they'd need to be for her plan to work. So why did nobody else come up with "hey lemme time skip 500 years and then we'll unite the heroes that take on the Ancient Names to power me up for a Falcon Punch?" If that's all it was then this whole story should have ended before the game even began.

Which leads into the next thing. It's an interesting set up to have dead warriors be able to be brought back to life. I mean this helps with the narrative of endless war. How many kids can you possible birth and raise to maturity to keep this 500 year old war (actually longer) going? WWII for example devastated the world population and we entered the Baby Boomer period where everybody was being persuaded into having tons of kids. That's what the boomers are, restocking lol. However I think that was the point of it for miHoYo that they needed an excuse for a nation constantly at war and losing people to still have people to spare. And that removes the stakes doesn't it? We even had to have a line about "why don't you just send all of Natlan against the Abyss and then just keep reviving them?" And of course that's what happened in Act IV. Nobody could die for a short period. But regardless of any of these arbitrary limitations it lowers the stakes. In my old predictions I took the only title we had at the time "Incandescent Ode of Resurrection" and took that to mean this ode was the goal not the system. Mavuika wanted to use it to bring something back but nobody could just be brought back since the start of Act I. War like that would be stakes. And the way I had it set up with the conniving factions meant it wasn't endless destructive war, just unceasing struggle that prevented peacetime. You would have enough time to repopulate because I hate to break it to anybody but we've been in a constant state of war since WWII. Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, War on Terror, other proxy wars etc. "The Abyss" hasn't let up in almost 80 years. But the global population has risen not fallen because these were smaller events not one continuous World War.

Along with plans that should have come earlier and low stakes there's also the fighting itself. I mean they keep saying the Abyss is clever but so far all we've seen is that they can use overwhelming numbers or things humans can't even damage. So if they could pull out all the stops why didn't they just do that 500 years ago? 1000 years ago? During the fall of the dragon civilization? Why only now when they stood such a huge chance of failure? If they employed the same attack 500 years ago they might have destroyed the six specific Ancients Names needed for Mavuika's plan. The end. If they employed it earlier than that the golden child Mavuika wouldn't have even been born to come up with this plan nobody else in thousands of years could come up with lol. And that's the Abyss side. What about the human side? We humans are known for one very important thing: we adapt. Adaptation and our ability to innovate new strategies to respond to situations is a key part to how we became the dominant species on Earth. So Mallko's group was overrun by sheer numbers right? You'd think that would mean Natlan would send greater forces next time or fight in strategically advantageous positions like between a gorge where they could set up a choke point and station snipers on the cliffsides. No let's just send 5 people from 5 out of the 6 tribes. That oughta work! I think the worst part is how often "luck" is brought up in this nation. It feels like Natlan is just a dumber nation than others and that's especially bad because of the three regions miHoYo modeled it after.

Ok so now we've covered plot holes and poor writing. What's good writing look like then for reference?

We learned that Phlogiston is just primordial elemental energy right? What did Nahida's Second Character Quest tell us about this energy? The more an elemental being has of it the more they learn and grow. However it is all energy and if they give it up they lose the information contained in it but the energy itself is not lost. What did Mavuika do in Act II? She collected a bunch of Artifacts from heroes of Natlan's past. These objects contain the memories of those heroes. She then sacrificed those objects to regain enough power to save the group from the Night Kingdom. Iansan then says that any major show of power comes at a price.

What really happened here was that Mavuika allowed the energy stored within the objects, the memories to be returned to the Sacred Flame. This flame is composed of elemental energy and so the objects made it stronger which then allowed Mavuika to tap into that power. This is good storytelling because while it phrases or demonstrates the effect in a different way, the underlying logic remains consistent with previously established lore. We've never actually seen how the Artifacts are used by our characters before. Now with these specific artifacts, especially the one-to-one of Tenoch's Talking Stick we can see they are used for their elemental energy. What this does is expand on that world building where now we can even establish that humanity is still elemental to some degree, at least enough to harness the energy from Artifacts to boost their capabilities. We can also say that "energy is energy" in Teyvat. It doesn't matter if we're talking about the Gnosis, the Sacred Flame or an elemental being like a slime, Archon, angel or dragon. You can do plenty with that in future stories.

Whew so again I did enjoy Natlan's Archon Quest much more than last year with Fontaine. There was far less filler and even when it was filler it was fun. (I really like Citlali now lol) There is still plenty for miHoYo to answer for in just Act V so I hope they can get it done and not disappoint again like they did with Fontaine. Would I try to do a rewrite for Natlan if that's the case? I suppose it would just depend on how bad it is but again I might be kicking myself here, I want to have faith in miHoYo. So we'll see.

As for this topic, here's a quick rundown of what we covered:

• There were a bunch of small details I got right about the Archon Quest so far. Go check out the paragraph at the top if you want to know which. Otherwise let's move on lol
• One thing I did get right but was a stupid thing that was right was that Capitano's appearance in Act II was one of his earliest moments in Natlan. The man literally just arrived a few days ago, couldn't find Citlali and then went to challenge Mavuika. We had heard he got to Natlan like two years ago and this is all he did.
• I also got a bunch of stuff wrong namely that I definitely wasn't counting on the central conflict of the quest to be done with by Act IV. I thought like all the other Act IVs (Act IIs) it would end on a low point as we headed for the climax which would lead into Act V.
• Capitano and Arlecchino are portrayed differently from the character archetypes they're named after.
• Capitano is always named "The Captain" with quotes which doesn't follow the style for any of the other Harbingers. This could suggest that "the Captain" is not really one person but a conglomeration of souls that keep Capitano from turning into a hilichurl.
• It could be that Ayizu didn't just teach him the ways of the Night Wind tribe but that he used those techniques to help keep Capitano conscious. It may have even been what killed him and this is why Capitano wants to save Natlan, a blood debt.
• To pay this debt Capitano might be the one to sacrifice himself much like Ororon was going to or the "angel." Doing so would destroy all memory of him but just like Rukkhadevata the Traveler will remember him.
• Capitano will become our Weekly Boss and in the story that'll be the catalyst that allows his sacrifice.
• Mavuika's Gnosis further proves that only original Archons like Zhongli have non-Queen chess pieces as their Gnosis. Any successor Archons or Archons created by the shades hold Queen Gnoses because they are like promoted pawns.
• "Angels" are still just elemental beings. Angels is an interesting way for miHoYo to tie that together because the "Archons" are called demon gods in Chinese and demons are fallen angels.
• These separate names could just be titles used by the dragons during their age with sovereigns being the leaders and strongest among them, angels being their servants and so on. Seelies, Archons, adepti and so on are names used during the succeeding human age.
• Ancient Names are more like indexes. Similar to Visions they latch onto a specific archetype of a person to make it easier for Ronova to recollect their memories in the Night Kingdom to resurrect.
• A shining shade is not really needed to create life or resurrect as Archons and even humans are capable of creating life. However as we saw previously with Istaroth they may be the only ones knowledgeable enough to come up with plans like the Ode of Resurrection.
• Phlogiston is now revealed to be the pure elemental energy of the dragon age. This energy was uniform and not separated into elements like in the modern day. From older information the lore behind Phlogiston, Mavuika's sacrificing objects to regain power, etc makes sense because everything related to memories can be converted into elemental energy which then powers elemental beings.
• Since one of the objects Mavuika sacrificed happens to be an in-game weapon with stat bonuses we can conclude that the mechanism behind these stat bonuses during gameplay come from the same system meaning humans can also absorb elemental energy and therefore are elemental beings themselves, something previously hinted by Lingyuan.
• There are tons of plot holes that this story needs to address by Act V's end. If they do it right it explains why there's still a story to tell in Act V after what was accomplished in Act IV. If they don't it explains why miHoYo has some very serious internal problems.

PS: Actually you know I kept saying miHoYo only has Act V to work with because we're not getting an Archon Quest in v5.2 but that's not necessarily true. We were just not getting the main story in v5.2 as Act V would release in v5.3. But originally I had predicted that this was because we needed Mavuika's Character Quest to bridge the story leading into Act V. That can still happen. Not with her Character Quest since she's not releasing but what about an Archon Quest Interlude? Given the plot holes miHoYo still needs to fill maybe we'll get an interlude quest that will reveal the truth and that will then lead into the Archon Quest's conclusion. After all right now there's not much story left. However we can build up that story with a new revelation when Citlali tries to figure out how to prevent Mavuika's death. Maybe she'll find that "Mavuika isn't who we think she is." And that'll set off another plot where we have to figure out if what we're fighting to protect is even the right thing. At the end perhaps the "death" that's owed is Mavuika's former life as the fallen Pyro Yaksha and in Act V she'll forego that life to live truly as a human.