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!
How long's it been since we've gotten any real information on the sisters? Honestly until the "Ancient Moon's Remnants" we heard about at the end of the Natlan Archon Quest, the moon sisters were part of the mythical side of the game's lore. There wasn't really anything solid enough to suggest it wasn't just a story. That uncertain foundation was a little unsettling for me as I'd based some theories on them including this one that's going to be central to today's topic.
A few snippets from that theory and supplemental theories also based around it first:
- The Moon Sisters are the original rulers of the world.
- This world may not have even been called Teyvat. Teyvat is actually Hebrew for ark.
- Phanes the Primordial One and First Descender later arrived and became beloved by the sisters as they saw it as the "morning stars."
- Phanes is in essence Genshin's version of the Will of the Honkai aka the Cocoon of Fate. They are emissaries of the Imaginary Tree meant to maintain its universes.
- The trouble started with the arrival of a second emissary, that being the Second Who Came or the Second Descender.
- The disaster that followed prevented the normal routine of the sisters taking turns overseeing the world in their silver carriage.
- Each sister took a side in the conflict which consisted of Phanes, the Second Who Came and also the Abyss. In the aftermath each moon corpse was left in one of the realms.
Ok with that part covered let's look at the web event. We're now told that:
So there's a clearer picture of what my theory brought up. The "Eternal Moon" is the sister who sided with the Abyss. The "Iridescent Moon" sided with Phanes and finally the "Frost Moon" sided with the Second Who Came. The result was that the "crimson shadow" of the Eternal Moon "fell" into the Abyss and that's the moon we see in the Spiral Abyss. The "Frost Moon" that stopped turning is the moon that doesn't turn in Teyvat.
However the final moon is odd. The "Iridescent Moon" shattered but Celestia would be the domicile of Phanes and that's shown in the game's loading screen. There's a perfectly good moon during the nighttime version of said screen and it has been pointed out that this moon is not the same moon as the one seen in-game. On the other hand we do see a shattered moon. Mavuika called it the "Ancient Moon Remnants" at the end of the Natlan Archon Quest. This proof and the fact that we're being told that a moon shattered suggests that must be canon. (just to be clear, canon not Canon) There's another issue too. The location of that shattered moon as seen in the Archon Quest doesn't look like Celestia. Instead it also looks like the Abyss or rather the origin of the Abyss, the Sea of Quanta. Unfortunately there isn't enough information yet to figure this out for sure. The only thing we can guarantee is that the "Iridescent Moon" did have to shatter so we'll leave it at that for now.
Look back at that part of the web event. Even though the text is talking about the "Eternal Moon" the image we're seeing is of a moon shattering. After it shatters the settlement underneath it is drowned by the sea in what looks like a flood. There is only one flood myth in Teyvat's history and it only affected Fontaine. This isn't that. If we look at some other events though, there are many that have to do with water. Morax for example is described in the Stone Tablet Compilations as having "lowered the tides and calmed the waves" when he first started to bring peace back to Liyue. From the ending of Unreconciled Stars we know Venti once drowned Pilos Peak and left it the Musk Reef we know today. Finally from the Violet Court, we know Narukami and Kannazuka used to be a single landmass. This is actually the most direct reference we have to the web event as it states that the land was separated when the "mirror shattered" and this "mirror" existed in a time when "the earth was larger than heaven's dome."
But is it a flood? Look at the Morax example again. He lowered the tides and calmed the waves. In the Violet Court example, the "oceans arose." What is one thing we all know our moon does to Earth? There are several topics on this thanks to one Majora's Mask. Our moon produces tidal forces on Earth thanks to the lopsided gravitational pull it exerts as it revolves around the planet. Now if we remove it the tides should actually calm down and the oceans would settle but that's where Genshin's world differs from Earth doesn't it? They have three moons and we're only told one moon shattered. If we can assume that the planet was stable back then then the moons would have to have orbits that balance out each other's effects. Remove any one of them and suddenly there are two moons pulling on one side. And then before long another moon disappears. During this chaos parts of the land were covered by the swells like Inazuma while the Archons scrambled to prevent the water from washing away the remaining settlements.
That's just the effect we all know about. There's actually another thing our moon does for Earth and that is stabilizing our axial tilt with respect to the sun. According to astrophysicists the sun is constantly pulling on the Earth in an uneven manner that would tip the north pole towards it. The moon's own pull prevents that and instead causes the Earth to cycle every 26000 years and draw a circle with its poles. If Genshin's moons did this too then there's actually an old theory that might be confirmed as a result of their absence. This theory claimed that Teyvat is tipped on its side and this is why for example Inazuma has Northlander Billets while Fontaine has Midlander ones.
Furthermore if we look at the image above, these moons are all different sizes which could suggest an order to them as well. So here's something interesting. We've all known the names of the Moon Sisters for some time now. Aria, Sonnet and Canon. They were named after forms of song and poetry. And that's where most discussion ends with this but there's a theme to that theme. Aria is a solo part of a musical piece. Canon is a song with repetitive lines and Sonnet is a specific type of poem where alternating lines rhyme. Aria is also a solo that can be accompanied by an orchestra or absent of it.
Keeping this in mind, if these three moons were kept in balance even with their different sizes then their configuration would have to account for that in order to achieve stability. Therefore if one of these moons were to explode the resulting consequences would be even more intense especially if the largest of them was the one that exploded. It could be that Aria was the largest and the one that shattered. As it is the only solo act this would leave the remaining two moons to resolve themselves in order to bring the planet back under control. Let's say they were positioned closer together and opposite to Aria to compensate for her larger pull. Without Aria suddenly there is a combined gravitational pull from just one side of the planet. To relieve that newfound stress, one of these moons could be sunk into the abyssal sea and therefore no longer exert its force on the planet. This wouldn't fix everything immediately but it would be far more manageable for the Archons and therefore while Narukami and Kannazuka couldn't be repaired, Morax and Barbatos would be able to run damage control to find somewhere to divert the excess water until the tides stabilized again. Then the question becomes which moon sank? There's no real way to tell as yet but I'm going to throw my hat into the ring and say Canon is the Abyssal Moon aka the "Eternal Moon." It's all about repetition right? And what's more repetitive than endless eternity? Aria shines in her solo act "iridescently" and finally (also in a meta kind of way) Sonnet remains in Teyvat where the story rhymes with every other region.
That leaves the other part of the web event's main plot, the new moon.
One piece of lore we knew about the "new moon" is that supposedly Teyvat's never seen one yet. The Traveler will bear witness to its first. There were theories about this but now we know what that means. The Traveler won't just witness Teyvat's new moon; they are the new moon. Going back to our sisters, we can use their names once again to decipher their phase. Aria as the solo act would be complete on her own or a full moon. Meanwhile both Sonnet and Canon are more of an accompaniment so they would be the waxing and waning phases respectively. These three sisters were always in need of a fourth, their new moon. On top of that, the image above is of the Welkin Moon feature of the game right? Welkin means heaven therefore we can say that this missing fourth phase of the new moon descended from the heavens. The Fourth Descender. Even more on the nose? In Chinese it isn't called the Welkin Moon. The word used is 空. That's Aether's Chinese name. So you could even translate the Blessing of the Welkin Moon as the Blessing of Aether's Moon.
Getting away from the main subject of the web event let's look back at that picture with the moons side by side. The text underneath says they "once steered the primordial celestial sphere" right? I think that means we more or less have confirmation that the planet isn't even called Teyvat. Teyvat may just be the name of the false sky. Maybe in spite of the "flood" being the chaotic tides caused by the destruction of the moons, the resulting Firmament created by Phanes was dubbed the "Teyvat" or ark. (or of course given the ever present threat by the Sea of Quanta, perhaps the Teyvat that Phanes created was meant to shelter its humanity from that potential flood)
The text also implies that they used to weave fate which of course now we know is under the Heavenly Principles. That seems to follow another theory of mine. In short, the Dragon Sovereigns weren't just the most powerful elemental beings. The "elements" they harnessed were primordial, foundational aspects of the planet. We already know the primal aspects for two of them: Neuvillette's dominion over the Primordial Sea and Xiuhcoatl's over Primordial Elemental Energy aka the Phlogiston. I predict that our 6000+ year old Geo Archon is the Geo Dragon who literally represents the planet itself. His age coincides with the Jewish belief about the start of the Messianic Age of Earth. And the Traveler just happened to start their journey at that time.
On top of this the only dragon settlement we know of right now is Chichen Uctokah however in Chinese Uctokah is 乌图 which is the Chinese transliteration for the Sumerian Uttu, the Goddess of Weaving. Taken together, Chichen Uctokah may reference the dragonborn's respect of the sovereigns role to facilitate this primordial natural order under the Moon Sisters.
Leaving the past and getting back to the present we have the line
Eternity means something to us, doesn't it? Eternity is the ideal nearest unto the Heavenly Principles. There was another piece of lore we already knew since the beginning too.
The keeper is fading away; the creator has not yet come. But the world shall burn no more, for you shall ascend.
This new line is further confirmation that whatever happened in the Cataclysm was devastating for Celestia as well. The Sustainer took mortal damage (hence why "Nicole Reeyn" is now able to speak to us and do things like join the Hexenzirkel) and Celestia as we've been told by both Nahida and our sibling is dormant or in other words "has not yet come" back.
Besides the Moon Sisters the web event also provided peeks at future content of the game.
I think most people saw the dark image with the one little visible piece and dismissed it in favor of the brightened image that is likely artwork of Nod-Krai. But a line of text also accompanies this image. Actually we get this line over and over again from the previous part of the event. Something is stirring. I think this is referencing every plot to undermine the principles. We've got the Fatui who have their plans to do things like gain divine power themselves. The Tsaritsa herself has the plan to collect the Gnoses which I believe will be to reforge a Descender body to use against Celestia. There's the foolish actions of the Abyss Order and of course there's that contract Zhongli made since the end of the Liyue Archon Quest we still don't know about. What is he planning?
And that's still not all. The rest of that line is that the stirring is unseen and more importantly inevitable. Inevitable is a word I used to relate to the Imaginary Tree, who I believe might be represented in this game as Ananke the Primordial Greek Goddess of Inevitable Fate and mother of Phanes. In other words this part of the line references the Traveler, the next emissary being sent by the tree to resolve the problem of Teyvat.
Now why would something about all the plans to undermine Phanes appear with a blacked out image that's only showing a glowing blue thing? What is pretty much the only glowing blue thing we know of in this game? The Divine Nail. These were Celestia's weapons it used against any perceived threats to the Heavenly Principles. They were already previously used by both an Archon (Deshret) and the Abyss Order (in the Chasm) for their own ends against the principles though neither was successful. Could the glowing Divine Nail in this part of Nod-Krai be the next focal point for these plans against Celestia? Is that what miHoYo was actually hinting at rather than playing up the FNAF trope of brightening images?
Finally we have the image preceding it. I wanted to save this one for last because it seems to really work towards my most recent prediction. I believe Capitano's actions at the end of the Natlan Archon Quest will have far reaching consequences that coincide with miHoYo's release of teased characters over the next six months since v5.3, including the next appearance by Skirk. We've already gotten two examples of these consequences. In Liyue a sudden surge in fetor plagued the region and nearly cost the life of Hu Tao. In Inazuma the increased Abyssal Corruption within the Ley Lines awoke the Abyssal Nightmare creature that had been born from a traumatized Chiyo. Why did Liyue and Inazuma suffer these incursions? The thing is we knew there was a reason why the Khaenri'ahns weren't allowed back into the Ley Lines, why Celestia had cursed them. The Khaenri'ahns were imbued with Abyssal Energy. They regularly used Khemia. Another name for this that might make things clearer is "forbidden knowledge." It was the thing that polluted Irminsul and forced Nahida to erase Rukkhadevata from existence. Notice how that's not that different from what Hu Tao was going to do?
So look at the above screen from the web event.
And now look at this image:
Notice anything? How about if I do this?
This part of the web event has question mark bubbles in two concentric circles. The inner circle just happens to have 3 and the outer 8. Clicking on any of these bubbles gives you the same line about something stirring. But we know what this configuration is. Qimen Arts: Seven and Eight Gates Method. In Chinese Taoism the Qimen is a real thing and refers to the three realms of heaven, man and hell. These are the same three realms that miHoYo used for Genshin's Three Realms: Light, Human and Void. The Eight Gates are founded through these realms.
I think this is miHoYo pointing out that we'll be seeing more of the consequences to Capitano's actions. The sick Saurian who contracted a rare disease that we'll be helping Ifa deal with in v5.5 is Natlan's version. After that v5.6 should be Fontaine and Mondstadt's version though I also think Snezhnaya's will be mentioned by cameos from either of the Harbingers or the House of the Hearth crew. Finally in v5.7 we should be getting our next Dainsleif Quest and that would be a great time for Skirk to make her next appearance. And that should coincide with the consequences reaching Sumeru who have already dealt with this before. Now thanks to our experiences with this across Teyvat, we'll be able to prevent another Rukkhadevata situation.
In summary this event seems to be further reinforcing some of the major ongoing theories I've had and also hinting at what we'll be seeing in the upcoming patches leading up to Nod-Krai's release in v6.0. There are suggestions that this web event will reveal more as time goes on since it will be active throughout v5.5's run. We'll see if that's true and if there's even more miHoYo's willing to reveal.
Topic originally created on March 16th, 2025.