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!
The "Sacred Flame" is being called Yajaw K'ahk' and if you think this word looks an awful lot like Ajaw you're not wrong. It literally means lord of fire and it is one of the titles of the Mayan priesthood. The K'uhul Ajaw or divine ruler of the Maya can sometimes assume these roles in the priesthood. Another title is seen right after: Ti'sakhuun. This means prophet. And Kalomte does just mean majesty as in royalty.
Now let's look at that ending. Back in v5.0 we got started in Natlan with three tribes. Who were they? Nanatzcayan, Meztli and Huitztlan with the characters Kachina, Mualani and Kinich. Why those three? Well if we look at this bulletin it looks like those three tribes made some kind of deal with Teteocan who again would be Celestia. What kind of deal might this be? Well we don't know enough yet but we do have a K'uhul Ajaw don't we? He's currently tethered to our boy Kinich and is pretty much under his control. You know who else had an "almighty dragonlord of fire" in his custody? K'inich Yat Akh II, the last ajaw of one of the most powerful Mayan cities which existed alongside rival Palenque which the Mayan queen Lady Sak K'uk once ruled. (these aren't really important connections though since there are dozens of K'inichs in Mayan history lol) Anyway what is the story between Kinich and Ajaw? Ajaw will assume control over Kinich's body upon his death right? Let's move on.
I have a theory that perhaps Xiuhcoatl split itself into a trinity with Ochkan and his father being the other two pieces while Xiuhcoatl itself died during the war between Celestia and Nibelung. However as it was being consumed by the Abyss this third of the original Pyro Dragon further split itself into the corrupted body and a fragmented consciousness of its former Dragon Sovereign mind. This body is the basis for our upcoming Weekly Boss, an Abyss mimicked facsimile. (and what I still feel the space whale in Fontaine was supposed to be until miHoYo made it a living billboard for promoting Star Rail in Genshin. No I'm not bitter.) Meanwhile that fragmented consciousness is Ajaw, still bearing its undue confidence as the Almighty Dragon Sovereign it used to be while also carrying with it the wickedness from Abyssal Corruption. (Remember how Ajaw was cheering when Gosoythoth appeared in the sky?) Meanwhile Ochkan would also go on to become an evil dragon also because of Abyssal corruption and thus also split himself into a corrupted body and a consciousness, Cocouik. So what about his father? I think he did them one better. Waxaklahun Ubah Kan became the Wayob and as Wayob is a plural word, it means he split himself into a whole bunch of different Wayob to watch over the tribes while also splitting into the Wayob Manifestations to test the humans he believed in. Speaking of those manifestations, how could the Pyro Dragon wield all those other elements? Well we actually know it isn't "Pyro" affiliated. Instead it controlled Phlogiston which is a primordial form of elemental energy and precursor to all seven modern elements. It isn't that difficult to believe then that Waxaklahun Ubah Kan would easily be able to access all of them.
So in Act V we may just see Ajaw and Waxaklahun Ubah Kan rejoining the defeated Abyssal form of Xiuhcoatl, powered by Capitano's sacrifice and using the Traveler's Ancient Name as a medium to reabsorb the Archon Authority from the Pyro Gnosis to become whole again, an Incandescent Ode of Resurrection. Using the Pyro Dragon's authority might have also been Ronova's gambit to override the required payment of death for using her power thus saving Mavuika's life.
Side Note: And that itself would also qualify as an Incandescent Ode of Resurrection. On top of that the now purified and fully reempowered Dragon Sovereign might just be able to repair the Ley Lines that it itself had once damaged thereby making that also an Incandescent Ode of Resurrection. I actually attempted to do this with Fontaine since the version of the story we got was neither a masquerade nor a story of anyone who was truly guilty.
What happens to Ajaw after that? I mean logically he'd be gone but I don't know if miHoYo would spend so much time developing its personality just to have it become silent. (You don't silence the Hokage, believe it!) Plus he's funny. So it may turn out that while Waxaklahun Ubah Kan is merged back into Xiuhcoatl, Ajaw just gave up its "sovereign ruler of the nation of flame" stuff and can live on as its own being from now on.
But going back, what exactly was the deal between those three specific tribes and Celestia anyway? It was to seal away Ajaw. After Xbalanque killed Xiuhcoatl, Ajaw was all that was left. While there might have been other reasons for it, one major reason would be that Celestia would never leave Natlan alone until the Pyro Dragon Sovereign was totally out of the picture. (There is a Divine Nail hanging over the central Wayob totem meaning even after all of that Celestia was still coming after anything related to the Pyro Dragon.) Therefore Yupanqui of Huitztlan, Uenuku of Meztli and the twins Ixquieh and Ahpub of Nanatzcayan (Ahpub would go on to lead the Collective of Plenty) made a pact with Ochkan under the Heavenly Principles to seal off the "cursed land" of the old core which is probably also the "dragon ruins" that housed Ajaw, only revealed thousands of years later when Kinich's group found it. (I mean we found and unlocked the door to the Old Core of Chu'ulel because there are gaping holes in Ochkanatlan's walls and floor above it.)
Side Note: It could even be that Ajaw is too corrupted by the Abyss so it'll remain separated because it has to, as if it coming back to Xiuhcoatl will poison it the way Rukkhadevata was by forbidden knowledge and therefore prevent its resurrection from being usable in Zhongli's plans. If this is the case then it could have even been Waxaklahun Ubah Kan as the Wayob bestowing Kinich with his unique Vision that brought him back to life without the Ode of Resurrection and didn't violate the terms of the Ode of Resurrection as he was able to "win" the Night Warden Wars and bring his team back with it.
In a nutshell, Ajaw is what remains of the dragon body third of the original Pyro Dragon Sovereign. This body had been fully corrupted by the Abyss therefore while Ajaw may possess some aspect of the sovereign it is mostly just a consciousness born from the Abyss influencing Xiuhcoatl hence the sourpuss personality. Once the Heavenly Principles were established Ajaw was sealed along with Chichen Uctokah in a deal with Celestia likely to prevent Ochkanatlan from suffering the fate of the dragon civilization. Kinich is now tasked with keeping Ajaw contained which may be the underlying secret that qualified him for his Dendro Vision. Meanwhile Xiuhcoatl's body is the upcoming Weekly Boss and upon defeat will reunite with the Wayob aka Waxaklahun Ubah Kan to revive back into the true Pyro Dragon, reempowered by the Pyro Gnosis in the Sacred Flame. This rebirth will also save Mavuika's life and restore the Ley Lines in Natlan therefore making all three events a kind of Incandescent Ode of Resurrection.
