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 theory is long because there's a bunch of stuff to explain so I've added a summary at the end.)
In part three of my review of the Fontaine story I brought up the implications of Neuvillette keeping his dragon powers. But there's actually more to consider just by Neuvillette having been left in power regardless of the power level they gave him in the end.
Based on what we learned about Neuvillette I think it's even safer to say that Zhongli is the Geo Dragon Sovereign. A long long time ago we were told through the man's own Character Stories that the original Seven were tasked with guiding humanity. But just like the newbie Archons those old Dragon Sovereigns weren't interested in humanity.
Neuvillette himself admits to this and this follows what we see in his Character Quest that Focalors directly influenced him to cherish human life by setting him up as the Iudex. Over his four hundred years of service he grew accustomed and then fond of the humans which led to his desire to save them from the prophecy in Act V. This mirrors Zhongli's own backstory where he used to be a powerful Archon that didn't care for humans until he met fellow Archon Guizhong. Through Guizhong's insistence Zhongli eventually took the humans under his protection and over time came to appreciate them.
Another thing they have in common following the Archon Quest is that they are the only regional leaders to willingly give up their Gnoses and they both did it claiming they no longer needed it. Of course Zhongli never reclaimed his lost powers from it so he's not a fully powered dragon like Neuvillette is therefore his reason for believing he no longer needs the Gnosis is likely different. Maybe this is why Azhdaha noticed something different about him despite still recognizing him as Morax. Unlike the adepti he might have sensed the immense draconic elemental power that is now no longer as prevalent in him with so much of it left in the Gnosis.
Side Note: Something else that Neuvillette adds to Zhongli's lore is maybe some more information on my old Second Who Came theory. In his Voice-Over he calls Morax Deus Auri or the God of Gold. We know just how many titles the man has but Deus Auri wasn't one of them until now. Gold while most obviously the alias of Rhinedottir is also my theory on her endgame. Gold or rubedo in alchemy is what I've been saying is the same as the Genesis Pearl, the Loom of Fate and an Eighth Element our Traveler is set to eventually wield. Could there have been even more of a reason why Guizhong sought him out?
Anyway you might be thinking Zhongli and Neuvillette aren't really the only Archons to willingly give up their Gnoses right? What about Nahida? Well the main difference between what they did versus what she did is that she didn't really have a choice. Yes she's the only Archon to give up two Gnoses but she clearly wasn't doing it willingly. Had she not bartered with Dottore he could have just taken them by force. What she ended up doing was playing to his weaknesses, namely his pride and curiosity as a researcher. To that end it became an acceptable loss. She wasn't planning to use her own Gnosis for the Akasha anymore and as Dottore pointed out she couldn't use Ei's Gnosis anyway. Trading that for Dottore crippling himself for no reason and getting classified Fatui intel from him? Worth it.
But that line of thinking also opens up another example doesn't it? Yae gave up Ei's Gnosis too. Just like Zhongli she also made a deal for it. I'd say how we decide to interpret it will play into the next part of this topic. We're left with a couple of decisions to make: Yae gave up a Gnosis but it wasn't hers so does that even count? She technically made the deal because Scara had fooled us into poisoning ourselves and we might not have made it out otherwise. So does that count as a deal or is it another Nahida situation? I mean we were the ones on the chopping block not her but she still needed us to help with Ei. On the other hand by making that deal she set Scara up to become Wanderer.
Now if the answers to these questions are no then I'd say nothing changes from before. (I mean the before as in my old theory about her) But if we decide that the answer to both these questions is a yes then that makes things interesting. Let's continue.
It isn't a well-kept secret anymore that Yae Miko was meant to be Inazuma's original Archon. I know many people don't like this idea but there's already tons of evidence miHoYo's thrown out at us. I've brought up before how Yae is being depicted as the leader of Inazuma even if it doesn't get outright stated because of the massive change in the narrative. Almost all of Inazuma's major events following the Archon Quest have featured Yae as the orchestrator. Ei mostly makes small cameo appearances and only when Yae has invited her to do so. And in keeping with the theme of Fontaine's quest, Yae is the more Archon-like of the two. Ei much like Furina barely knew what was happening in her own region and was deceived by her commissioners who were themselves deceived by the Fatui. Yae on the other hand had played every piece she could gather, maneuvering the Traveler to confront Ei, having Sara confront her adoptive father and again she also passed Ei's Gnosis onto the puppet she once promised to look after. (which was ultimately resolved with help from Venti and possibly also Nahida)
And of course there was this.
Now I'm pretty sure no matter how much evidence there is the simple fact that the game still says stuff like "Almighty Shogun" and that they are still under the Shogunate will be proof enough against everything else. That's fine. Today's topic isn't really about that.
Back when I first compiled my theory on Yae we didn't know as much as we do now. Back then the dragons were still very new and we'd only just started to understand their significance to the lore towards the end of Inazuma's run with Enkanomiya. Now thanks to Neuvillette literally being one of those dragons (even being the one hinted about back in Enkanomiya) there might be a way to reconcile the changes miHoYo had to make to Inazuma without needing Yae to be the old Archon.
Ok so going back to the beginning of that theory, Inazuma is a word that means lightning in Japanese but it isn't the only one so it must be significant that miHoYo decided on this specific word to name their region. Yae is obviously a kitsune and she heads a shrine with the very well known rows of torii gates leading up to it. That's a dead giveaway we're talking about an Inari shrine with Yae in the role of Inari. Inari is by far Japan's most popular kami presiding over a third of all Shinto shrines in the country. Her name Inari uses the exact same word 稲 ina as Inazuma. It means rice. The kanji in Inazuma literally translate to rice wife and Inari is the kami of rice cultivation. So in the original setting this was the most obvious clue that Yae was the old Archon. The next most obvious clue is that the country is under a Shogunate with Ei being that Shogun. (if you know your Japanese history)
Now the difference after knowing about Neuvillette is that we know these regions were around before the Archons. Rukkhadevata didn't create Sumeru and neither did Deshret. Apep was the one that first created the land named Sumeru as we are told by Nahida in her Second Character Quest. Deshret inherited the post-Divine Nail Sumeru and Rukkhadevata despite being called the First Dendro Archon inherited her version of the nation from him. With a similarly close relation to Inazuma, could Yae now be the Dragon Sovereign of Inazuma rather than its old Archon?
Originally when we found out the lore about the dragons I ruled her out. Her English Constellation is yet another major clue of her divinity but her Chinese one set up a different clue that I had brought up in my Archon 101 topic. In Chinese it's 仙狐 or "adepti" fox for her Constellation. (I know it means something different in Japanese but let's keep Genshin lore in mind here.) I had previously translated 仙 to "sage" instead but that's not really important except to know how I used it with relation to Venti who also has that word in his Constellation, 歌仙. Venti is undeniably an Archon but we also likely know how he even became an Archon. According to his lore he was just a wind spirit until Istaroth the shining shade chose him to help overthrow Decarabian. With the destruction of his throne Venti got the Anemo Gnosis and used it to set up his own throne to become Barbatos. Then if we look at Egeria's legend, it's likely she was also created by one of these shades and I had previously talked about Deshret and Nabu whose lore suggests they too were creations of a shade. (In fact it might even be the same shade.) As such I classified these Archons as the "Sage Archons" using that 仙 word. (so translate it to "仙 Archon" or "created Archon" instead if you'd like) Since Yae fit the mold I theorized she was also created by a shade. Looking at her personality she does share many of Venti's characteristics. She's playful and deceptive and you can't really get a straight answer out of her unlike Nahida or Zhongli.
Side Note: In fact back when we were first introduced to Nabu I even played with the idea that she could have been Yae because of how she'd been described, the color of the flowers associated with her and that she was known for her dance. Don't worry too much about this. They are definitely not the same person. I just wanted to show how easy it is to link them which is why I had held onto Yae being a 仙 Archon all this time.
But unlike Venti she also closely reflects both Zhongli and now even Neuvillette. I've talked about this before but just like Zhongli does in his First Character Quest, in Yae's she has the Traveler write down their journey expressly stating that it's a shame if these stories were to be lost, in her Voice-Overs. Their plan has led the Traveler to understand that they are the "witness" which we've now heard many times. She also has a cool detachment to humanity. You can see from her actions she means to protect them but her words sound like she could care less. This is also how Zhongli sounds, both having carefully nurtured Liyue for thousands of years while also saying he should be around to see it fall. This is further reflected by Apep's view on humanity that she's just going to watch and see how well it does which is now shown by Neuvillette's old personality that was slowly chipped away by Focalors' Divinity.
Now of course the changes to the story would still have to be addressed. Her Burst has the term kitsunetsuki which means fox spirit possession so Yae Miko is still physically just the vessel and the dragon would be the inhabiting spirit. But it might actually suit the new story better. Again if she is meant to be Genshin's Inari and therefore hold a link with Inazuma's founding we now know that role belongs to the dragons not the Archons. They could even play off the current reborn dragon plot which started in Inazuma as well. To account for her Constellation it would be a simple matter of interpretation since the physical Yae Miko would still just be a yokai and then the inhabiting spirit much like "Focalors' Divinity" raised her up to godhood. Similar to how Neuvillette's Constellation isn't something like Aqua Dei because he's a reborn dragon in human form the possessing dragon spirit and Yae wouldn't get Tonitrus Dei either. This reflects the real world lore reference from her signature weapon and that she wields a gohei to attack rather than the Catalyst you equip to her.
Side Note: There was also something I brought up last time that adds a layer to this topic too. We know the Traveler's abilities mimic the Archons. Anemo Traveler has a tornado that sucks up enemies just like Venti's vortex. Geo Traveler sets up pillars that resonate just like Zhongli's. Dendro Traveler sets up a thing that has different effects depending on the elements present just like Nahida's temple shrine thing. But then something interesting happens for Electro. Ei's skill will hit enemies with Electro but that is mimicked by Electro Traveler's Burst instead. And that's now been followed by Hydro Traveler who mimics Neuvillette's Charged Attack with their skill. And it's just these two regions that have us meet with someone other than the ruling Archon. It's as if there's something wrong with our resonance because there's a discrepancy over who's actually in charge.
Topic originally created on January 12th, 2024.