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 article was originally put up on reddit.)
This game is still very new but I feel like in nine acts (two from the intro and now seven for Huanglong) we've already learned plenty.
For the basics we have the concept of vibrational waves. On Solaris-3 everything is composed of these waves. This originated from Honkai Impact and miHoYo's fictionalized take on string theory for their universe. (I don't think it comes as a shock how heavily inspired these games are by the Hoyoverse.) In string theory one-dimensional strings are the underlying building blocks of all matter in the universe. What distinguishes one type of matter from the next is the qualities of the strings that compose them, such as their vibrational frequency. In some theories if we're able to measure all of these frequencies in real time then we can recreate anything. Teleportation for example would be mapping all of these frequencies of a person and storing it as data then transmitting it to another location to reconstruct.
One of the proposed flaws of this future technology is the margin for error. What if you can only map out 99.99% of those strings accurately? With even a 0.01% difference in your makeup you could end up massively changed. In Wuthering Waves this is shown by gaps in a person's frequencies. For example a being might not have access to some abilities if they lose part of their frequencies.
However as any good developer does, Kuro didn't stop there and I feel that their interpretation of string theory takes more cues from the Persona series than Hoyoverse.
We're told several times that the Laments and Tacet Discords are related to negative emotions produced by humans. Threnodians for example can be composed of things like the reverberations of dying soldiers or even the hatred imbued in the frequencies of weapons used in war. Threnodians like Ovathrax can even create Tacet Discords out of disembodied reverberations. This reflects the gods of the Persona universe most closely Nyx from Persona 3. Nyx was summoned through the depression of humans and their longing for death. In the sequel we encounter the direct manifestation of these negative emotions in Erebus. Shadows themselves represent a person's id.
On top of this we had the Persona 3 extremist group Strega. These people suffered from an incurable affliction that left them believing that death was the only salvation for the world. It's a sentiment reflected in our Fractsidus who mean to draw the "True Lament" in order to force humanity to merge with Tacet Discords and achieve some kind of evolution. Both of these factions have some control or manipulation abilities of their respective minor enemies, Shadows and Tacet Discords. It wouldn't surprise me if it gets revealed that the Overseers of the Fractsidus also suffer from some kind of affliction, maybe missing frequencies or, to take a page from how Wuthering Waves describes things maybe a cacophony has mixed with their native frequencies to cause destructive interference that created anomalies in their wave patterns. These anomalies are painful but they discovered that they could ease this pain by mimicking the Threnodians and absorb more frequencies, in this case the frequencies of TDs. The absorption of foreign frequencies into bodies with already damaged waveforms warp the minds of the Fractsidus; we already know TD frequencies don't naturally mix with humans and they have had to use Masks of Contraint to prevent rejection. Also as they absorb more TDs the TD's own ability to absorb frequencies strengthen the Fractsidus further justifying their goal to have all of humanity absorb TD frequencies. It may even have been a plan by the Lament (if it's even conscious) to have these humans work towards this goal and it'll be revealed that as TDs mix with humans they become more effective at manipulating human frequencies and consuming them. In Persona it was eventually discovered that Strega were pawns of the Death Shadow and their actions were leading to the Fall where all of humanity would be turned into Shadows at the same time.
Over to the more personal side of the story, Kuro designed Wuthering Waves to be your typical chosen one tale. The MC is divinely chosen, uniquely gifted and even a returning hero who had already saved the world previously. This falls alongside the surface level Genshin story where the MC came from another world and was chosen to save Teyvat. More recently it was revealed that they are a Descender and tasked with changing the world order. However while the Traveler is also a chosen hero much of the story follows the principles of Gnosticism which means even the Traveler needs to experience the world, grow and ultimately reach the enlightenment of gnosis or in Genshin's case attain the Genesis Pearl. Rover on the other hand is already a god and was sent for the purpose of resolving all the current problems. As far as we know they afflicted their memory loss on their own and all benevolent entities of Solaris-3 are their underlings. Jue for example gave Jinzhou the prophecy that Rover would return in the next Retroact Rain and tasked Jinhsi with preparing for their arrival.
It could be revealed that the humans had become so distraught as to summon forth a powerful Lament and Retroact Rain that blanketed the whole planet. In an effort to stop it Rover spread their benevolent frequencies across the world similar to the Persona 3 protagonist turning his soul into a wall that blocks Erebus from reaching Nyx. This stopped the rain from falling and delayed the "True Lament." However it was only a bandage on the problem. Over time humanity's negative emotions produced new TDs and the Threnodians eventually collected Rover's scattered frequencies. Each of the five(?) of them gathered the frequencies that best fit with their element and so we'll be getting a total of five "regional" Weekly Bosses that will give Rover back one of the elements besides Spectro which they had retained. We already have Havoc back. And that's what it means for them to "reclaim their power."
In practice this plays out similarly to the Trailblazer of Honkai: Star Rail where each major boss encounter could trigger the Trailblazer to attain another Path. Eventually they'll collapse that waveform (quantum mechanics stuff don't worry about it lol) to create the ultimate Path. Rover will reabsorb their frequencies in the Threnodian Weekly Bosses and become divine again. Now there's a Part Two of this. The Traveler in Genshin will also collect seven elements and use those elements to reignite their innate Light Element, their divinity as a Descender. However that only makes them equal to Phanes another Descender and likely the final boss. As the lore shows, other Descenders had come and gone before the Traveler who is the Fourth. This will play out with Rover as well because we can clearly see the world is not saved and this wasn't the first time they had reawakened. It'll still take some doing for them to find the correct solution even after reclaiming their power.
And that gets us into spoiler territory for the new quest so SPOILER WARNING. Don't read the stuff below in the spoiler cloud until you've completed Act VII.
Jue revealed that Rover was the founder of Jinzhou and that whatever happened back then also caused irreparable damage to the Sentinel. I wouldn't be surprised if all of the other Sentinels and whoever else at this level in other regions will be revealed to have similar injuries. When the True Lament was summoned Rover was sent to resolve it. However maybe they were sent too late and so the best they could do was sacrifice themselves and in the struggle the beings under their command also took grievous injury so they patched up the planet as best they could knowing that one day when Rover recovered they could try again.
If Kuro continues to follow the Genshin structure then we'll travel to all the corners of Solaris-3, take down the Threnodian, regain another form, heal or replace the Sentinel* and then Part Two of the story will have us go for a second round against the True Lament. The stakes will be raised as we find out it's been several rounds already and each time Rover had failed to resolve the crisis which mimics how Genshin's Traveler is the Fourth Descender. However it'll be revealed that all the previous failures occurred because they didn't address the root cause of the Lament, the deep-seated despair of humanity. This is similar to how the previous Descenders failed to attain the Genesis Pearl and enlighten humanity to take their fate into their own hands. So in the current Rover's run we'll eventually see the suffering of the people, their loss of hope and overreliance on Rover and their Sentinels and so we'll finally focus on that instead of trying to block the Lament by force. This was seen at the end of Persona 3: FES when SEES realized the only way to truly free the MC was to eliminate humanity's desire to summon Nyx. I'd say the Fractsidus themselves will be an eye-opener for Rover and it'll play out where the other Sentinels and nations all ignore and oppose the Fractsidus (like we're doing right now) and late into the game is when Rover will side with the Fractsidus. It'll be one of those plot twist moments to subvert our expectations so sorry for potentially spoiling that if I'm right lol. By agreeing to help the Fractsidus later into the game they'll come to understand how bad the world's gotten and that no amount of saving the day will actually change anything if most of humanity has lost hope. The endgame will be empowering Solaris-3 to reject the Lament by themselves thus also freeing Rover from needing to return again.
Now let's talk about WuWa's Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. It seems to be heavily implied already but this could easily be a sleight of hand for Kuro that this woman is SY-A038 or Abraxas.
If you talk to the researcher Phantoms you find out they accidentally created it while looking into Artificial Retroact Rain. It was born out of a successful attempt at artificially creating a Tacet Field which we know creates Tacet Discords. However the researchers claim that it is a replica of a god. It also shares the TD desire to consume more frequencies and is implied to have devoured all of the researchers.
Keep progressing through the act and you reach the head researcher's Phantom who explains they realized the Artificial Resonant Rain project was a mistake and that they were aware of Rover's previous returns. My guess is that's why Rover has Abraxas in their hand. It could be that when they returned the previous time to the Black Shores it was to address the chaos A038 was causing. By absorbing it they were able to pacify or redirect its attention which is where the fluffy mascot form came from. Maybe by using its innate ability to consume frequencies it's easier for Rover to regain their lost frequencies from the Threnodians.
But now let's go back to the part where the researchers labeled A038 as a god replica. In Genshin as in Honkai it's been shown a few times that the Abyss and Celestia aren't all that different. Both have a negative impact on humanity. It may be revealed late into WuWa that the Lament and Threnodians aren't different to the Sentinels or even Rover. Kuro could invoke the "power of belief" story plot. Since everything is composed of frequencies and the TDs can arise from the emotional frequencies generated by negative human emotions this can translate to human thought manifesting into physical being. Negative emotions create negative creatures like the TDs and Threnodians which then grow by consuming more of it and then the same could happen in reverse where positive human emotion generate divine beings like the Sentinels and Rover.
Naturally if they want to tug at our heartstrings it'll be revealed that as humanity gains control of itself its emotions no longer run wild and therefore not only will the Laments cease to exist but also Rover too as they no longer need a hero to come to their rescue. So then of course by the very end humanity's power over their emotions will resurrect Rover as a fully-fledged human and it'll be explained as creation through hope or love or something cheesy like that. In other words the desire of all of Solaris-3 to see Rover again brought them back. That's something like Final Fantasy X where the Fayth dreamed back their ruined city.
Ok last part of this. A038 gets renamed Abby by Rover and suddenly says the name Abraxas. In Genshin Abraxas is very lore heavy. The character himself is just the inventor of the Dainichi Mikoshi down in Enkanomiya. He was able to do so because he was imbued with the knowledge by Istaroth the God of Time and shining shade of Phanes. But the name is a lore bombshell. As Genshin is based around Gnosticism, Abraxas is known as the God Above Gods and a representation of gnosis. For WuWa's case though Abraxas is also seen as a representation of the Holy Trinity and creation itself. This could be seen from the opening cinematic where it appears like A038 recreated Rover and then sent them back to Solaris-3. Now, that's a chicken or the egg conundrum right? How could it be the creator god when it was created by humans? It could be that the TD A038 was an uncontrollable monster that was absorbed by Rover but they couldn't do it on their own so the goddess assumed the existence of A038 making it into an aspect of herself. Or maybe the god the researchers thought A038 replicated was that creator god but as it was a TD it lacked any higher function that the goddess had and consumed rather than created. This might go on to further elaborate the connection between the divine and the Lament.
Final major note is about the timeline. In Genshin we know that Teyvat is at least 6000 years old (which in itself is a theory) but most of the current lore only explores up to about 4000 years ago when the modern cities started to develop. The details don't even really start until 500 years ago when the major event called the Cataclysm took place. Most theories break down this timeline into those periods: Modern Day, Cataclysm, Archon War, Ancient. WuWa seems to have tried to do this but their "Cataclysm" would be the Battle Beneath the Crescent which only occurred three years ago. On the other hand we know Rover previously reawakened at the Black Shores which likely predates this. This may or may not be when they absorbed A038 which would be its own period if not. But all of this is still fairly recent and we so far have nothing in between those periods and now Jue tells us that Jinzhou was founded millennia ago. Now as I love to do for these localized Asian games, this is a mistranslation. In Chinese Jue says she's been protecting Jinzhou since its founding for 千百年 qianbainian. This isn't necessarily millennia. It's actually very vague because it could mean as little as almost a thousand years. The term isn't literal, it's literary. In common use it just means "a long time." If they really wanted to go for millennia then they could have used the term 几千年 jiqiannian literally many thousands of years. Anyway this is the point where Rover founded Jinzhou which means there must have been further history even older than that.
What we're left with is a timeline that starts at some unknown point in time, followed by the founding of Jinzhou and one of the earliest if not the earliest appearance of the Rover at anywhere between nine hundred and.... millennia ago, which then leads to Rover's reawakening at the Black Shores and absorption of A038 an arbitrary but fairly recent number of years ago, the Battle Beneath the Crescent only three years ago and the current events.
Ok last little detail. It seems just like the Traveler in Genshin who was recently revealed to just be using your player name as a pseudonym (it was heavily hinted at earlier) and their canonical name is either of the given names Aether/Lumine, our Rover has done the same thing. The difference is that the Traveler took on the pseudonym on purpose while Rover honestly doesn't remember their real name and might be adopting your player name as their new official name. On the other hand Jue has now revealed they used to have the title Arbiter. I'm not sure if Kuro used this title to mean what it does in the real world or if they were going for something like Halo's Arbiter. The way it's used makes it feel more like they did the latter though since it was the highest military honor in the Covenant. The Chinese is 御者 yuzhe which is an archaic term used in modern Japanese to mean chauffeur but in actual Chinese it used to mean something along the lines of leader of the cavalry, the main military faction. So comparing it to more modern western military ranks that might translate to Field Marshal which used to mean keeper of the king's horses and is the highest position in the army. It also happens to be the rank Halo's Arbiter is related to haha
Ok with all that said it's time to
