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!

I've had a bone to pick with the Natlan Archon Quest since the start. The story clearly goes beyond the Cataclysm but everything we hear about in the Archon Quest itself focuses solely on that instead of the constant mentions about how Natlan's been the way it is since Xbalanque's time which was thousands of years before the Cataclysm. Finally in this current patch though we got something.... from the World Quest and exploration.

Let's dig into that shall we?

The Pyro Dragon Trinity

We know from the books and World Quest Series that Xiuhcoatl was the Pyro Dragon. We know that Waxaklahun Ubah Kan is Ochkan's father and that Ochkan was the Python King who established Ochkanatlan. We also know that the fall of the Pyro Dragon, Waxaklahun giving the humans the primal fire of Phlogiston and Ochkan creating old Natlan and then turning into an anti-Saurian tyrant all took place within the lifetime of a human. This is because Yupanqui was friends with both Xbalanque and Ochkan, Xbalanque became the first human Pyro Archon which has been established as not increasing the person's lifespan at all and Yupanqui was part of the group to take down Ochkan after Xbalanque had passed.

That's the set up. Back when Natlan was still brand new I looked at the earliest pieces of lore we had from the nation and the story we have here doesn't quite line up with the references. The thing is Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, Ochkan, Xiuhcoatl and the Python King are all real world references. And not only are they all references but they all essentially refer to the same thing: the Pyro Dragon. (in their own way) Ochkan is a Mayan word that means Vision Serpent. One famous Mayan Vision Serpent is Kukulkan but it has another name, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan. That led me to believe those two were the same person but the World Quest has shown they are father and son. However Waxaklahun Ubah Kan itself is very well known to us, as long as we go with its Aztec name: Quetzalcoatl. And Quetzalcoatl has tons of lore about him like how he gave the humans fire. Quetzalcoatl is also linked with the planet Venus which is a reference to Istaroth, a name made up of Astaroth and Ishtar aka Astarte aka Aphrodite aka Venus. Istaroth as we know established Enkanomiya and helped the people so that's where I thought the link with Ronova might be. That would be the link between Waxaklahun Ubah Kan and Ochkan to the Python King who has now been established to be Genshin's Ochkan. The Python King is a reference to the African Ball Python or Python regius, regius meaning king. Back then West and Central Africa had a patron goddess Idemili whose emmissary was the Python King. However instead of Ronova who aided Xbalanque we now have another patron goddess to link to Ochkan, Ix Uxul Tz'ib Bolon Ch'ule-L the Dragonlord of Chichen Uctokah or old old Natlan.

Side Note: Right and Xiuhcoatl just literally means fire dragon in Nahuatl. There's not quite any lore to him; it's just the name.

Where am I going with this? Well right now we have a story about a father and son whose names reference the same thing in real life. What if they also reference the same person in game too? What if Xiuhcoatl is Waxaklahun Ubah Kan is Ochkan? How would that even be possible? Well it wouldn't be the first time we had a trinity would it? Genshin as we all know is based around Gnosticism which is an early form of Christianity which believes god is a trinity and specifically that the father, the son and the holy spirit are one being. And does the game itself provide evidence of this possibility? Yes. Ochkan himself split his consciousness off from his body and his body became the "evil dragon" while his consciousness became Cocouik.

Side Note: Far earlier Azhdaha actually split itself into the physical draconic body, the embodiment of its rage Jiu and the spirit of its conscious thought which possessed Kun Jun.

In this configuration Xiuhcoatl would be the holy spirit, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan the father and Ochkan his son. But to what end right? Well we know from the World Quest Series that Waxaklahun Ubah Kan wanted Ochkan to kill Xiuhcoatl and rule over Natlan. The death of Xiuhcoatl happened before. We're told it actually faked its own death to hide from Celestia. Therefore if Waxaklahun Ubah Kan is Xiuhcoatl and he wanted "his son" to essentially kill him, wouldn't that also be a faked death? What if the plan was to shift focus? The Pyro Dragon needed to be slain or else Celestia would never leave Chichen Uctokah alone. But the Pyro Dragon had no intention of actually losing his power so he arranged for a version of himself to kill the "Pyro Dragon" and reign over the new Ochkanatlan which as we know was literally just built on top of Chichen Uctokah and made use of all of its technologies, basically a Python King who was piggybacking off of the foundation of the goddess Idemili here played by the Dragonlord Ix Uxul Tz'ib Bolon Ch'ule-L. In this way he never loses power at all.

However there was a problem with the plan. Ochkan became obsessed with getting rid of the dragons including the dragon aspect of himself. This was actually also part of Waxaklahun's plan just not in the way Ochkan carried it out. What was supposed to happen was a mask over the truth because Celestia was hunting the dragons in favor of an Archon ruled human society. Ochkan being part human and establishing Ochkanatlan over the dragon nation (therefore also a mask) made it possible for the Pyro Dragon to still reign over its region without actually adhering to the Heavenly Principles. In other words Xiuhcoatl was trying to play 4D chess but checkmated himself. Xbalanque would kill his Xiuhcoatl form and become the human leader. So the plan changed. Ochkan was then supposed to become his successor. Instead he became a tyrant. Now all that's left is the father. We learn from Pacal in the first part of the World Quest Series that Waxaklahun has stories told about him "from the tribal era to that of Ochkanatlan... And even around the Shadow Pin." The Shadow Pin would be Cataclysm era.

Or there's even more to the story. We do know that Ochkan was defeated and his rule replaced by the Second Pyro Archon. I had a theory about who that was too and if that's right then it actually fits with my original prediction for what the Pyro Dragon ended up becoming. So let's talk about that next.

The Many Faces of the Pyro Archon

The Second Pyro Archon is only known as the Scarlet-Eyed Youth. The lore sometimes referred to this person as a man but that's a localization thing. This is still true with the new lore we received in v5.2. There are many references to the youth being male in Chasca's weapon but each of them in Chinese is just 赤瞳 scarlet eyes, 赤瞳的救主 scarlet-eyed savior, 赤瞳的英雄 scarlet-eyed hero and most commonly 赤瞳的少年 or Scarlet-Eyed Youth. Given we already know the localization screwed up with gender pronouns for the Dendro Archon (Chinese doesn't have distinct male and female pronouns) it isn't unlikely this is another mistake. (or it was done on purpose to allow the lore to be more ambiguous before the reveal which is made difficult because English lacks indistinct third person pronouns)

But what the new lore suggests if we connect it to my previous predictions is that Mavuika pulled a Venti. To review: my theory is that Mavuika is the original Pyro Archon, a real Archon who ascended and actually became a goddess. The human Archons were part of an elaborate plan for Natlan to deceive Celestia just like Fontaine had by setting up a human Archon while the real Archon collected the people's elemental energy as Indemnitium. Early into Natlan's release this explained why the Statue of the Seven looked like Mavuika despite her only being the Archon in the present day and back during the Cataclysm but not for the conclusion of the Archon War which would have been Xbalanque. (among other inconsistencies) With this new lore we can say Mavuika wasn't just the Archon for those two periods but at least one more, hence Venti. Once New Mondstadt was set up Venti left the humans to run the kingdom their own way. However when the aristocracy became corrupt and caused suffering Venti returned to resolve the issue and set Mondstadt back on the right path. In this same way Mavuika would have set up the human Archon tradition which was then undermined by Ochkan. Therefore just like she would in the present day she returned from the Sacred Flame as the Scarlet-Eyed Youth and defeated Ochkan to become the next "human" Pyro Archon.

On top of this we're told that whatever deal Mavuika cut with Ronova, her "death" was the price. But we're then told something that could easily be translated as "she'll die eventually" like any human would anyway. I'm pretty sure that's not what miHoYo was going for so with this idea we have another interpretation. Additionally we know in spite of Xbalanque being the one we hear speaking to Ronova about setting up all of Natlan's future traditions, Citlali still says that Mavuika's life is the price and not just the Pyro Archon. Otherwise they could just play a game of hot potato with the title.

My prediction which is still a giant Hail Mary at this point is that Mavuika was once the Pyro Yaksha. The Pyro Yaksha Indarias was weighed down by her karmic debt just like all the other yaksha. However she succumbed to it and fell. Originally I had suggested that the Incandescent Ode of Resurrection was used to bring her back to life but the ode ended up serving a different purpose. Therefore let's give that job to Ronova and this is when Mavuika's death becomes owed. Freed from the corruption she would have been remorseful just like her brother Bosacius and therefore perfect to use in a plan to protect Natlan. This may have been the true scope of the Pyro Dragon's plan. It had already faked its death to secretly join Nibelung's counterattack against Celestia. This force of dragons was powered by the Abyss and just like we saw with Apep, they were poisoned by it. To counter this Xiuhcoatl split itself into the trinity with its draconic form left to be fully corrupted and therefore need to be defeated. This task was first given to itself as Ochkan but he failed. Therefore with the revived yaksha on hand, Mavuika was given the task instead. However she deemed herself unfit to become an Archon which led her to set the stage for the valiant warrior Xbalanque to take the role from her. On his own a human would stand no chance against any dragon nevermind a Dragon Sovereign but a yaksha was contracted to help Morax rid Liyue of any remaining evil gods. (gods are no different than dragons) With further backing by the dragon itself Mavuika would be able to defeat the dragon. The defeat created the Pyro Gnosis and elevated her from Indarias the yaksha to Haborym the Pyro Archon. However she then used it to set up the Sacred Flame and the tradition of human Archons, using Xbalanque as the model. Finally she "repaid" the debt of death to Ronova by dying in the Sacred Flame. Xbalanque was then "reborn" from the fire to become the legendary "First" Pyro Archon. (of course there was actually an even greater plan but Xbalanque was in on it too: "Someday, when they return, their true ordeal shall begin.")

Unfortunately after this Ochkan worshipped Xbalanque and obsessed over creating a new order based around deifying him alone which put the human Archon plan in jeopardy. Mavuika was forced to return as the Scarlet-Eyed Youth to depose Ochkan and then reign as the Second Pyro Archon in order to restore the tradition. She would eventually die again as a human for that purpose and once again this repaid Ronova. Thousands of years later she'd be called back again because Natlan's tribes were in disarray. She motivated the exile Tenoch into reuniting the tribes to fight against the Abyss but this only held them at bay and wouldn't defeat them. To that end and knowing she could always come back Mavuika set the stage for the present day plan where she tasked her allies to reunite the tribes while she'd die again only to return 500 years later when those tribes would be brought back together. Who knows how many times she might have come back in between. However we do know that Venti knew a Lady of Fire who was warlike and had fiery red hair. Vennessa and the Natlanese of her time (500 years before the Cataclysm) were the children of this Lady of Fire so it's likely she had returned somewhere around then as well. In other words the death that's owed to Ronova is the promise across time to watch over Natlan as atonement for her ill deeds as a corrupted yaksha. In this way we could also suggest that the final "death" that will be owed is actually Mavuika's freedom from this endless cycle of death and rebirth, to no longer have the responsibility of being Natlan's "human" Archon once Natlan could take care of itself. This will happen when Ronova's plan for Capitano plays out in Act V. Ironically it might actually turn Mavuika into a real human by burning away her yaksha life as the true death she'll pay to Ronova.

Now just as Mavuika was given the task of endlessly reviving whenever Natlan needed her, the Pyro Dragon who had chosen to fight on Nibelung's side and poisoned Natlan's Ley Lines as a result was also tasked with watching over Natlan in its own capacity, as the Wayob. Going all the way back to the Mayan Vision Serpent or Ochkan, these beings are said to allow communication between the living and the dead and they dwell on the Mayan World Tree. Genshin's World Tree would be Irminsul which all the Ley Lines connect to. We know for sure the Genshin Ochkan isn't facilitating anything like that given we play out his fate in the World Quest so it can't be him but if we go with my trinity suggestion Waxaklahun surely could, a most fitting penance. This would then explain why he has legends stemming from Ochkanatlan all the way to the Cataclysm. Additionally the word wayob is plural and we do know there are many Wayob in Natlan. There's a specific Night Kingdom area that you still have to go out of bounds to reach where we can see a central spire surrounded by Wayob totems. The central spire is burning so we can gather it is likely related to the Sacred Flame and if that's the case then it's related to this whole plan under Ronova. Waxaklahun becomes the most likely candidate. And just like how Waxaklahun is himself just one member of the Pyro Dragon trinity it's not unlikely he could also split himself into several different beings like the plural Wayob.

Side Note: Btw before we knew for sure Xiuhcoatl was the Pyro Dragon I played with the idea that Xiuhcoatl was just another dragon. Based on its physical description I suggested it could have been Ajaw. Ajaw or K'uhul Ajaw is a Mayan title meaning divine lord. However as the lore expanded with Ochkanatlan's release we find out that Genshin's translation for K'uhul is destined not divine.

A destined lord could be seen as the rightful king or a future ruler. This is exactly what Ajaw thinks of himself and he will control Kinich's body upon his death. Given that it was also Ochkanatlan where we find out that Ochkan had split himself in two and that his consciousness became the chibi Cocouik, how much of a stretch would it be for the trinity Xiuhcoatl, relegated to just the feral draconian body and corrupted by the Abyss to also further split itself into a corrupted Abyssal self and a former Dragon Sovereign consciousness? The Abyssal portion was destroyed and took with it all of the dragon's authority to be placed into the Gnosis. The consciousness however transformed into a chibi just like Cocouik and dubbed itself K'uhul Ajaw, the destined lord.

Of course all of this overanalysis could be way off base seeing how there's plenty of plotholes still left unresolved as of the Archon Quest Interlude. But supposing miHoYo is able to address all of them in Act V let's review this possible story we'd get in v5.3:

• Xiuhcoatl, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan and Ochkan might all be the Pyro Dragon, a trinity of the Pyro Dragon just like the real world holy trinity.
• A being splitting itself into different aspects of itself isn't unprecedented in Genshin. Ochkan himself split into Cocouik and the evil dragon. Azhdaha split itself into the Azhdaha body, Jiu and Kun Jun.
• The sequence of events start with Xiuhcoatl's faked death during the war against Phanes.
• Later on when Nibelung launched its counterattack, Xiuhcoatl joined along with fellow Dragon Sovereigns Apep and Neuvillette. They were empowered by the Abyss and thus corrupted by it.
• To rid itself of corruption Xiuhcoatl split into the trinity and wanted Ochkan to kill the Xiuhcoatl dragon body that was corrupted. Ochkan failed.
• Mavuika was the Pyro Yaksha revived by Ronova to kill Xiuhcoatl instead. Killing the Dragon Sovereign made her into the Pyro Archon Haborym just like killing Decarabian made Venti the Anemo Archon Barbatos.
• But the real plan was to have Natlan fend for itself and Mavuika owed a death to Ronova. So she set up Xbalanque as the first human Pyro Archon while she burned herself in the Sacred Flame.
• Ochkan then broke this system so Mavuika was forced to revive again and become the "second" Pyro Archon, dying again to reestablish the system. She'd come back at least 2 more times.
• Her final "death" will be in Act V when Ronova releases her. She'll lose her yaksha life permanently and become truly human, therefore "dying" just like "the people [of Fontaine] will all be dissolved into the waters."
• Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, the only part of the Pyro Dragon that remains turned into the Wayob under Ronova's orders and further split itself into the many Wayob of Natlan.

Topic originally created on December 15th, 2024.