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!
Over the last few months as Season 2 was coming to a close, I put out a few theories like this one, this other one, this other other one and also this one. We haven't gotten Part B of this year's Epilogue yet but going off of the livestream and its trailer alone, it seems all of these pieces have been woven together to take us into Season 3.
The big one of course is Ramiel or as she's now revealed, Lieutenant Colonel Remielle Dan who was one of the first Void Hunters. This sets her up nicely to be the Yixuan for Season 3. It's likely after the fall, she's no longer technically a Void Hunter thus placing her in the same position as Yixuan and perfect to be our introduction into the new Wind Attribute just like Yixuan was our introduction into Rupture.
In terms of the lore, this actually expands on what I previously theorized. When it was just Ramiel, it felt like the devs explaining the failure of Eridu's emissaries from the Imaginary Tree to protect the universe from the Creator. However, now Ramiel is just an identity deliberately chosen by Remielle which points instead to her acceptance of their previous failure. It may tie into Phaethon's name as well given Phaethon's myth is also a tale of failure due to hubris and the game's even been bringing up recently the go-to hubris story of Icarus. The v2.8 livestream has now linked Remielle and Roscaelifer to Helios Academy so it could suggest that Carole's involvement was the major gambit the emissaries tried to take which just didn't pay off in the end.
Besides that, there is a significant difference between Ramiel and Remielle despite how it was silly of Remielle to use Ramiel as a cover identity given even the real world angels were often conflated together. Anyway Remielle or Remiel is actually the Angel of Mercy and not a fallen angel like Ramiel. This role could play a part in the revelation that Season 3 will be giving us Pyrois, something summoned by the Proxies that can fight within the Hollows like any other Agent. The boss we'll deal with in v2.8 is likely the untamed Ethereal/Sacrifice form of Pyrois and something created by the Proxies losing control of whatever Creator-born power is inside of their eyes. Remielle then uses her power of light (demonstrated as her form change back to white wings) to shackle Pyrois. Season 3 then reflects Season 2 where either Remielle herself or maybe even Sunbringer will be our next Yixuan Shifu and teach Proxies how to control Pyrois.
Originally I was against going to Roscaelifer in Season 3. Given how it was presented to us in Season 2 by Lockspring and then how elusive it seemed to be just last update given how Velina talked about it, I thought it was meant to be the Zenless version of Celestia. Honestly, it still could be but it's important to remember that this Celestia failed and therefore it stands to reason even their mini-paradise isn't quite so critical to the universe's lore. Adding to it now the possibility that we need Remielle or Sunbringer to control Pyrois, we would actually need to go to Roscaelifer and then it becomes Season 3's Waifei Peninsula.
If this keeps up, we might actually have a roadmap going forward. Season 1 ended with us becoming disciples of Yixuan in order to figure out the enhanced powers of the eye implants and now Season 2 will end with us becoming disciples of Remielle in order to figure out Pyrois. Pyrois is actually the name of one of the horses that pulls the sun chariot, the same one Phaethon fails to steer. The other horses are Phlegon, Aeton and finally Eous and I think we might get upgraded forms of Pyrois with these names. All three names Pyrois, Phlegon and Aeton translate to something along the lines of burning. It could be that after Season 3, that year's Epilogue will upgrade Pyrois into Phlegon and Remielle or Sunbringer might suggest for us to seek out let's say Joyous or Vike to seek other means of taming it. Likewise for Aeton. Eous is where things will change. Unlike the other three horses, Eous is both the horse that pulls the sun chariot but also the name of Helios' sister, the Goddess of Dawn. This could be the turning point to lead the game into Part 2 with a Phaethon now empowered by the emissary-level element of Light.
Side Note 1: There's also the other possibility that these other forms of Pyrois could be iterative upgrades across the timeline resets. All together this game could have five resets leading to the sixth final timeline representing the successor city of Nippur. Therefore in this current timeline we get Pyrois but once this timeline fails, the next iteration would see Phaethon push deeper into uncovering the past which might enhance their abilities so they get Phlegon and then Aeton instead of Pyrois before finally reaching a level of clarity in order to unleash their true powers as Eous.
Side Note 2: Speaking of which, Eous is already taken so what about another name associated with the goddess? Like Lucifer.
Finally Cissia is still involved in this story. I had suggested that her role is definitely not as simple as some girl from the Outer Ring who became a cop. So far all the overt information has suggested this is her only role but we already know she assisted in Youkai's ability to hack into the Gilded Carrot Day feed. She happened to bungle security. She also then happened to predict literally everything that would befall Nicole just in time for her to step in and replace her for the Hollow Champion contest and on Phaethon's team no less. (technically the Cunning Hares team) That is far too coincidental. Her backstory was also proven false. She claimed to be running away from the sweepers until she got her job at NEPS but her own trailer showed she was relaxing and carefree in the Outer Ring and was discovered by Jane. Speaking of which she also happens to be acquainted with Promeia who seems to be the next version of a cleaner like Evelyn was last year. And Evelyn was revealed to be related to Rain, our hacker friend from Season 1's Chapter 3 all the way back in v1.0. Finally and most recently, the MIB event happened to have Rain involved in a commission that Promeia was looking into as well and they both only featured in the same part of that event's story too. In my old theory, I hoped that Season 3 would bring back Evelyn and Rain because if Youkai's on the loose, Rain as a hacker and Evelyn as a cleaner would be useful. Now Promeia would also fit into this role as well and again she just happens to be connected to Cissia. Therefore the other side of Season 3's story would still delve deeper into the backstory of the game where Youkai might betray that TOPS guy who thinks it's working for him. We just heard from Promeia in the livestream to never trust TOPS so it would make sense for Cissia and Youkai to employ her and Evelyn to help with their plan against TOPS. (That said I'm also hoping for this storyline to take place behind the scenes without Phaethon knowing about it. It would add a layer of complexity to this game. Nangong Yu, Anby and Trigger might also be great here and maybe the culmination of this plot could be revealed next year for Gilded Carrot Day.)
Season 2 looks to be going out with a bang and giving us the perfect setup for Season 3 and beyond. Let's review what the devs seem to have given us:
- Lieutenant Colonel Dan assuming the name "Ramiel" shows ownership of the first Seven Void Hunters' failure against the Creator. Thematically it also ties into the Proxies naming themselves Phaethon and the recent references to Icarus. These are all cases of hubris leading to disaster.
- Remielle Dan is a reference now not to the fallen angel Ramiel but to the often conflated angel Remiel, the Angel of Mercy. It could be that the boss we saw in the livestream is the untamed version of Pyrois. Remielle might need to use her "Angel of Mercy" powers to contain it so that Phaethon can learn to properly control in throughout Season 3.
- If this is the case, this would explain why we need to go to Roscaelifer for Season 3. Just like Waifei Peninsula and Yixuan's mentoring was needed to utilize the enhanced eye implant powers for Season 2, Roscaelifer and Remielle will be needed for Pyrois in Season 3.
- These revelations could be a roadmap for the game going forward. Just like how the city's name Eridu suggests several timeline resets as each city is destroyed, Pyrois is the name of one of the four horses of the sun chariot. These other horses could be used as upgrades for future Seasons or even future timelines.
- The "Epaphus" side of the story also feels like it's taking shape. As soon as Youkai was revealed, I theorized that the old friends we were supposed to see in Season 3 would include Rain and Evelyn. Rain has now appeared in a small event that related to Promeia and Promeia is acquainted with Cissia who was assisting Youkai during Gilded Carrot Day. Hopefully these characters will drive the storyline against TOPS behind the scenes of Season 3's the main story about learning to control Pyrois.