The Crimson Moon, its Authorities, the Abyss & A Dark Will
Preface:
A similar post was posted yesterday, we just happened to be on very similar lines of thought and I was too slow in finishing. I haven’t lifted anything from it, but it approaches things from both similar & different angles. I focus more on the abyss, but this post is defo worth reading up on before this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Lore/s/5vkjCiQk0I
Introduction
The Crimson Moon has remained one of Genshin’s biggest mysteries, specifically starting from the introduction of Arlecchino & the book Perinheri. However, it has always been present throughout the game and has showed up at various points for reasons we still do not yet fully understand.
I would like to introduce new perspectives and open further discussion to try and make certain concrete distinctions between the original authorities/characteristics of the Iridescent Moon and the characteristics of the abyss to see how they both manifest themselves through the Crimson Moon, with the goal of better understanding it. The 7.1 quest makes a few things a little more clear and allows for more speculation about what else the Crimson Moon could be hiding. First post btw, so be nice.
*CM = Crimson Moon
*IM = Iridescent Moon
The Authority of Death and Corruption
So judging by what Barbeloth, Alice and the Festering Desire description says about the Abyss and also from what Arlecchino told us, we can now infer the following about the transfiguration of the IM into the CM:
- Sonnet’s IM indeed possessed the largest share of the authority of death amongst the Three Moons
- When it was destroyed in the war of Funerary Flame, Sonnet fused her Moon’s remains with the Abyss in an attempt to avoid death
- The Abyss has the power to manifest unchosen possibilities that never came to pass if left unchecked
- The Abyss kept her alive in a terrible state while imposing/manifesting an alternate possibility in which the IM was never destroyed, as a result, the IM was warped into the CM
- The original authority of death it possesed along WITH the abyssal corruption is in-turn passed down to it’s Khaenrian CM Dynasty in the form of Balemoon Bloodfire
Now that we’ve established the dual nature of the CM, we can now look at its effects and attribute these characteristics to either the iridescent moon or the abyss.
Arlecchino & Delusions
Arlecchino is a surviving descendant who is able to somewhat manifest the powers of the authority of death while also progressively suffering from abyssal corruption as a result. She is a physical manifestation of both characteristics of the CM, it is likely that other members of the dynasty before had a similar constitution.
This brings us onto the topic of delusions.
Pierro meets w/ Arlecchino and with his knowledge of her lineage, they conduct research into her powers for the sake of creating Delusions. Within the delusions, we can see the original authority of death being harnessed to drain life in exchange for power. Perhaps even the ability of delusions to allow the user to utilize any element is related to the original iridescence of the moon - Arlecchino does call on “Mistress of the Seven Hues” as a title when performing the ritual in Nod-Krai after all, however these delusions as stated by Pierro were currently incomplete. In conclusion, what we’ve spoken about with the delusions are purely manifestations of power in regards to the IM exclusively and not the Abyss. That comes later.
In the recent 7.1 quest we oversee an experiment w/ Arlecchino which seeks to look into perfecting Delusions in order to more effectively oppose the powers of Ronova. This experiment goes awry due to unexpected compilations when they push the output of the delusion to its theoretical max, leading Arlecchino to fight what seemed to be a hallucinated visage of herself - this phenomenon doesn’t seem to be perceptible by anybody else during the experiment.
The researcher overseeing the experiment hypothesizes that the delusion may have accidentally touched on a hidden authority of the Crimson Moon other than death -
Specifically an ability that induces hallucinations, and causes loss of control for the user of said delusion.
I believe this phenomenon to be purely attributed to the abyssal characteristics of the CM. In the Natlan Archon quest we come across the effects of abyssal corrosion syndrome (a form of abyssal corruption) on people in which the captain states this:
“Staring into my eyes is ill-advised. I can't promise you'll like what you see...” ~ Arlecchino [Chat: Eyes]
A little bit of conjecture here, but I also believe Arlecchino might have subconsciously or unintentionally manifested this abyssal phenomenon outside of herself for the traveler. Recall their fight in Fontaine in Arle’s SQ and how the traveler looked into her eyes and saw the visage of a Crimson Moon - during which the traveler becomes completely immobilized and seemingly “loses control” of the their body being completely rooted to the spot.
To me, this sounds consistent with the researcher’s conclusion.
That sums it up regarding the Authority of Death and the corruption of the Abyss in the CM manifested Arlecchino and the delusions. Now I would like to focus on the other aspects of the original IM and the Abyss which are rarely spoken about but seemingly still present.
Fleeting Halos & Eye Imagery
Back in Nod-Krai, Lauma tells us that the IM - when shining - had the ability to produce mysterious fleeting halos. In other words, the IM had some sort of influence or power specifically regarding visual phenomena.
This greatly mirrors the fleeting afterimages left behind of the people that have been consumed by Arlecchino’s bloodfire - her character story 4 specifically states that sometimes these afterimages “donned the aspect of dazzling colors” which is consistent with the aspect of iridescence. Bare in mind these are not self-contained projections within Arle’s psyche, these images are perceivable by others, with Clervie being an in-game example who was visible to other people besides Arle.
On a somewhat related note, it is also worth acknowledging that the authority of death presents itself extremely visually in the Knave similarly to how it does through Ronova.
There are already loads of theories already looking into the similarities and shared motifs between their designs and various forms. This is important because it tells us that the imagery and connotations of sight and/or the eye is one that may exclusively be related with the original authority of death in the IM and has NOTHING to do with the Abyss since Ronova has no abyssal influences. One other example in particular that serves to strengthen the fact that the connotations of visuals and sight may be important and related to the original IM is during the Dottore (Heretic of the False Moon) weekly boss battle - directly facing him while he uses this authority warrants a penalty on the player. Bear in mind that in this weekly boss fight, he is specifically using the authority of the IM and NOT the CM through the use of its moon marrow excluding the possibility of any abyssal influences.
Splitting Realms
Vol 2. of Hymns of the far north speaks politically about the creation of the three moons by Nibelung. The part I want to focus on is the IM being described as a “shuttle” of some sort. A lot of people have connected this to the event weapon refinement material for the Calamity of Eshu the “Shuttle of Odara” because of it’s use of the same terminology. The description of the refinement material states that it has a prism-like glow and that this shuttle symbolizes a medium that pierces through different realms. Not only that but the Calamity of Eshu description states that”Sanhaj could use this curved blade to perform rituals, blurring the boundary between the Night Kingdom and the present world.”
This draws too many parallels to the IM with its description of “prism-like light” and the ability of both to blur the boundaries between the realms of the living and the dead. Since the blueprints of both are so similar, it suggests that the IM had or still has some sort of material ability to cross between realms. We know that right now it’s physically sequestered in some sort of special domain outside of teyvat, but the abyss might have leveraged this realm-crossing ability at certain points throughout Teyvat’s history which may explain its many various but unexplained appearances.
To Bare Witness
As we can see, the idea/motif of the eye is quite integral to the lore of the CM. We know that the CM has appeared multiple times throughout the history of teyvat and is depicted in many stories and historical accounts, especially regarding mass catastrophes (e.g, Gurabad, Khaenriah), where it seems to have had an observatory/overseeing function. Because of this, the presence or visage of the CM has been conflated with the idea of judgment as if the CM is a precursor to cataclysmic events. I’d like to look at this from a different perspective by comparing the CM to Ronova since they both represent the authority of death.
Looking at death first from the lens of Ronova, her innate proclivity as the shade of death is to bare witness to death itself. There are some key reasons she does this:
Cosmic duty
Ronova is the shade of death and as such she states it is her duty and authority to oversee the domain of death. This does not mean she has to be physically present for every death - part of the function of the leylines through irminsul is to autonomously carry out the process. However in the event of an exception, when needed, she will make an appearance as demonstrated in the 7.0 Archon Quest in the situation with the souls unable to pass on through the leylines at the theatre. Other examples of this are shown in Ronova giving Hu Tao’s ancestor the Staff of Homa in order to help those tainted by the God remains to pass on.
Personal Interest
Looking at Lunar Arcanum XIII: Death - the text depicts Ronova as someone who has a certain fondness for mankind and a willingness or fascination to oversee their lives and deaths firsthand. She demonstrates this in a quite crude manner during the 7.0 archon quest much to the chagrin of Mitya and the traveler. When quizzed by the traveler on why she chose to obscure herself she states this:
Fulfilling pacts
Near the end of the Natlan Archon quest we see Ronova coming to fulfill the terms of the pact that was made with Xbalanque to create the Ode of Resurrection. She exclaims she is to bear witness to a death as the price for using her power.
Now let’s look at this from the perspective of the CM - what can we infer about it from the behavior of Ronova?
Since the CM possesses the authority of death, then we can assume it too has a duty to oversee death. As a parallel to Ronova’s personal interest, I believe the CM may have more of a morbid fascination with death instead of a purely curious one (Note Arlecchino’s voice line about insects). Lastly, if we’re drawing a parallel between the CM and Ronova’s duty to fulfill pacts, it could stand to reason that the CM appeared above Khaenriah and Gurabad to bare witness to their destruction as the price for using abyssal power en-masse as the two incidents share that trait. This may be why it’s largely considered an omen of judgment.
A Dark Will
This leads me on to my last and personally most intriguing aspect of the CM.
Starting off again with the experiment, During the 3rd phase, we crank up the Delusions power output to the maximum, fully utilizing the powers of the CM.
This causes the Abyssal energy to spike and Arlecchino hallucinates a fierce battle with a visage of herself after which she loses consciousness. She is then cleared of excess abyssal corruption by the traveler and the experiment is halted.
The most chilling part of this event is Arlecchino’s choice of referring to the phantasm as “she” almost as if she has faced this apparition before or expected this turn of events. Here is where I want to suggest something that’s quite out there but I believe the “she” that Arlecchino was referring to could be the Abyss-corrupted will of Sonnet…
The depictions of the ritual and the story of Perinheri is described to be mainly symbolic from a storytelling POV but there is one thing we can glean from it about the nature of the CM. The eye that looks back at the children who go through the ritual in the story is described as being “horrified” not horrifying- but horrified. One thing we know about Sonnet herself as the personification of the moon is that she herself had a particular fear of death which persisted all the way until she came in contact with the abyss. It could be that this trait of hers became a big facet of the Abyss corrupted version of her which currently occupies the IM’s remains.
Another thing- note that when Columbina and the Traveler had collected the IM marrow and freed the original Sonnet from her suffering, Columbina still notes that there’s still “A dark Will” that’s left here and that same will tries to prevent them both from escaping with the marrow.
It could be that now the IM marrow is within Arlecchino’s possession, that this will has accelerated it’s attacks upon her in an effort to reclaim it by any means possible. It may even be possible that if the abyss was to completely take over her body, this is the will/persona that might even impose itself on Arlecchino. This may be something that the traveler and Arlecchino will have to deal with in the near future.
Other Considerations
Descenders
It is worth noting that the authority of death struggles with the existence of descenders. When the voice of the CM calls out to the traveler as they head through the rift opened by Arle, it states it has no right to tamper with the traveler in any way. Ronova (as Alyosha) states something similar explicitly saying that she can’t separate the soul of the traveler from their body for long as it’s firmly anchored to their body by their will. This is further supported by the fact that the traveler was eventually able to return to their body almost instantly after being afflicted by the curse of death in the final boss fight against Ronova.
Symbolic Respresentations
The stories of Kunwu’s solar pearl and the Crimson Glow of the Blackcliff weapons might both be symbolic representations of the transformation of the IM into the CM through the ”purification“ of the Abyss after it’s destruction. They both feature the element of something being submitted to some sort of process for 49 days. The significance of this is that in Chinese folklore, the number 49 carries heavy significance regarding death, the afterlife and rebirth.
With the solar pearl, Kunwu imbues the material with the “light of the heavenly bodies” and buries it in a wooden box in darkness for about 49 days. With Cor Purum which is the main material for the Blackcliff weapons, Cor Lapis is subjected to two refinement processes in which both steps last 49 days. The end result of both of these stories is that a parallel is drawn to the Crimson Moon, first through it appearing to adorn Kunwu with it’s light and secondly through the appearance of the blackcliff weapons to have a crimson glow.
Conclusion
That’s about it for this exploration of the Crimson Moon’s traits. I definitely rushed a lot just to get it out there so it may not be as coherent as it could’ve been but yeah. I also wanted to look into the connection between the statue of the omnipresent God, but I was unable to come up with anything that made sense to me. There’s so much more that I wish they would reveal about the Crimson Moon but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see because I think it’s far from over being dealt with.