u/PuzzleheadedLeg6769

The following theory contains spoilers from An Ark That Used To Be A Soul WQ line.

I'll start by saying that this WQ was one of my favorites in Genshin ever. Everything about it was pure cinema.

It was so philosophical and thought provoking, with extremely clever storytelling and writing, and this is exactly why I love Genshin's lore so much.

In the first part, we meet Nastya, who yearns to go "home", and "home" for her is being a part of a tree that is a collective consciousness made by Koshchei, a researcher from Hyperborea/Snezhnaya.

Koshchei is likely inspired from Slavic folklore figure called Koshchei the Deathless, which is said to have achieved immortality by rebirth - and more practically by separating his life force from his physical body to achieve pseudo immortality, a theme echoed throughout the quest.

We see a similar idea with Pavlina and the Snegoviks. Snegoviks are artificial Fae created with incomplete souls, and normally need a human who loves them to share their soul in order to become complete. Pavlina wanted to free them from this dependency, and planned to use the "soul-water" power contained within Ikhor to give complete souls to the existing Snegoviks herself. Another attempt at allowing life to transcend the limits it was created with.

Aksiniya was the Belyi Tsar's adopted daughter, and alongside Koshchei, Pavlina and Alvis, was one of the researchers of the Hvergelmir Institute. They were all pursuing transcendence, but they didn't necessarily agree on what that transcendence should look like.

Koshchei pursued immortality through rebirth and collective consciousness. Pavlina wanted to free the Snegoviks from their dependence on human souls. Alvis had his own ambitions and eventually opposed Aksiniya. Aksiniya's ideal was much more extreme: the Courtyard of Carefree Light, where everyone would be assimilated into a higher existence without change, pain or separation. Individuality would naturally be lost in the process as well.

The difference between their approach/ideal is interesting and is being echoed throughout the quest. It actually reminded me of Rene de Petrichor (who had the collective consciousness approach like Aksiniya - the more extreme view), and the others who were more moderate. 

The quest keeps asking what humanity should actually do with transcendence if it becomes possible, and whether salvation is still salvation when individuality has to disappear for it to work.

Nevertheless it seems that each of their views on this would include the concept of primordial human or the components of it.

Goggles is the Proto-Man, essentially the raw consciousness and soul needed for that project. The Primordial Human is the completed divine state: that consciousness assimilated into a Cosmic Body and combined with Divine Will/Authority.

So the way I understand it, the Proto-Man (Goggles) alone is the soul, missing a body and a will/authority. 

I have to say I didn't understand if that soul is the same one that reincarnates without memories, and if the third descender and the voyager are linked to it somehow. The notes scattered in the palace definitely make me think that they do but I if so, I didn't quite understand, so if anyone did please share your thoughts :) 

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Anyway it seems that humans have body, soul and will, while gods have body, soul and authority. Descenders are defined by a will capable of rivaling the world.

The Belyi Tsar was himself Hyperborea's earlier attempt at creating a Primordial Human. His body was forged using the flesh and blood of the Cryo Dragon Sovereign, giving him access to its Authority.

But Aksiniya explicitly tells us that the Belyi Tsar was not a Descender, so how does that work?

He had the body and Authority, but his creation was never properly completed. Something may have happened later that allowed him to fulfill the role Hyperborea originally created him for. My guess is that the missing element involved will, specifically a will capable of rivaling the world.

Also, after Nibelung's death, the position of the Primordial Human is said to have remained vacant. The Belyi Tsar later tasked his researchers with finding "the stairway leading to the vacant seat in the court of the stars".

So it sounds like there is in fact a position meant for a being like the Primordial Human, with the entire project ultimately being about creating someone capable of occupying it instead of the HP.

{*Also, it sounds to me like this 'seat' is not actually of the entity that rules the world (HP in that case), but of said entity's 'avatar'}

And I think this could parallel Asmoday and the Abyss Sibling.

The Abyss Sibling came from outside Teyvat, yet they're recorded in Irminsul and aren't considered a Descender. The Belyi Tsar gives us a precedent for a Primordial Human candidate who wasn't initially a Descender either. Maybe whatever process was meant to complete him is similar to what Asmoday wants to do with our sibling.

In that scenario, Asmoday parallels Aksiniya and the Abyss Sibling parallels the Belyi Tsar.

There's also the possibility that Asmoday needs both twins. The Primordial Human myth describes Light and Darkness coexisting within a single body, which fits the twins and where their paths have taken them. Asmoday may eventually intend to merge them into her own Primordial Human.

And then there's the title: An Ark That Used To Be A Soul.

After everything this quest establishes about consciousness, rebirth and assimilation, I think an Ark could be connected to what a Descender actually is.

The literal interpretation would be a collective consciousness, similar to Koshchei and Aksiniya's ideas: one being containing many souls and carrying them through the destruction or rebirth of the world.

But the quest also spends a lot of time showing why that idea is disturbing. Nastya loses her individuality within the collective, while Aksiniya's perfect world eventually removes choice altogether (the part where you see the primordial human and then you see names of users who play the game on the branches - damn that was such a clever and compelling way of conveying this idea).

 Alvis and the other researchers having different ideas about transcendence reinforces the same question: if everyone has to become one, whose idea of paradise actually wins?

So maybe an Ark carries wills rather than literally assimilating souls.

Descenders already have wills capable of rivaling the world. The Traveler has also been described by Melusines as something resembling a monster capable of swallowing the entire world in a single bite.

Maybe "swallowing the world" means being capable of carrying it.

We've seen the Traveler carry other people's wishes, ambitions and hopes, with those collective wills becoming real power at crucial moments. An Ark could work the same way on a much larger scale: one individual retaining their own identity while carrying the wills of countless others.

That could explain why the vacant seat needs a Descender-level being. Whoever occupies it may effectively carry the will of the world and determine its future - whether if it's a bleak Rene/Aksiniya collective consciousness, or something more like a morally and mentally powerful individual that can lead the world and carry the wills of an entire world because the people believe in them.

So Maybe every Descender is ultimately an Ark (Teyvat = Ark in Hebrew) or at least has the capacity to become one - and current Teyvat is Phanes' idea of an ark. But these ideas and approaches of an Ark can be wildly different depending on the Descender.

And maybe that's what Asmoday is trying to create from the Abyss Sibling, or from both twins together: a Primordial Human capable of reaching the vacant seat and shape the world according to her ideal.

I just had a random thought.

This breakdown contains spoilers for Naruto Shippuden.

--

Asmoday could actually be inspired by Kaguya.

Kaguya is a celestial alien who descends from outer space, becomes tied to the Divine Tree, eats its fruit, and ends up becoming the origin point for the world’s supernatural power system.

She is connected to the moon, sealing, dimensional spaces, godlike judgment, and the idea of peace turning into absolute control.

That already feels too familiar.

Asmoday appears from above, calls herself the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, stops the twins from leaving Teyvat, and punishes what she calls the “arrogation of mankind.” as the ruler of space, her power is space/reality altering based, with the cubes, sealing, separation of the twins etc

The Divine Tree parallel feels very Irminsul. In Naruto, the God Tree is part of the hidden structure behind chakra, history, and the world’s power system. In Genshin, we have Irminsul, ley lines, fate, memory, the fake sky, and Celestia’s control over the world. Different systems, but very similar symbolics: a world-tree or world-record structure that connects life, power, memory, and divine control.

Kaguya also has that “cosmic mother” role. She is the mother of Hagoromo and Hamura, and the whole shinobi world is basically shaped by what happened with her. Asmoday could fill a similar archetypal slot in Genshin: a feminine celestial authority tied to the rules of the world itself.

The traveler/abyssibling angle is also interesting. Kaguya’s story revolves around her conflict with her two sons, Hagoromo and Hamura.

Asmoday’s defining scene revolves around the Traveler twins, where she separates them and forces them into Teyvat’s system. It is a different relationship, obviously, but the structure feels similar: a cosmic female authority standing against a pair of siblings who threaten or disrupt the existing world order.

Also, I saw some theories suggesting that Asmoday might be based off the Greek god Erebus, which is the manifestation of darkness. And the name of their son in Greek myth? Aether :D

Kaguya is also heavily tied to the moon through her sealing and Infinite Tsukuyomi. Genshin keeps circling around moon lore too: the Moon Sisters, the false sky, lunar symbolism as we saw in the latest questline.

Also, In Naruto, Kaguya’s story becomes tied to humanity receiving chakra, abusing it, and turning it into endless war.

In Genshin, Asmoday’s first line is basically divine punishment for humanity overstepping its limits. That feels like the same type of theme: humans gaining or touching a power they were not supposed to have, and a celestial authority responding with control, punishment, or containment.

Even the way both characters feel emotionally distant matters. Kaguya is not really written like a normal villain with human motivations. She feels ancient, alien, maternal, divine, paranoid, and terrifying. Asmoday has a similar aura in the opening: calm, cold, celestial, and completely above the twins. It feels like she doesn't put up a fight in the slightest, but sees them as insignificant and just does what she wants with them.

If she was really one of their inspirations for Asmoday, I wonder what else we could learn from this.

Ok so I finished the Moongazer questline and I keep thinking about the lunar structure shown through one of the terminals.

Sorry if I got anything wrong here. This is very much crack theory territory, and I’m posting it partly so people who understood the quest better can correct me.

From what I remember, the structure was roughly:

Space Lifeform Capture Station
↓
Sky Elevator / Skymount / connector layer
↓
Ungien’s Circle
↓
Power Engine / moon core energy system

I tried to find the exact terminal again but couldn’t confirm if it was the one. It might have been this one:

https://preview.redd.it/q8gm5ehsftbh1.png?width=1194&format=png&auto=webp&s=c41b602381e301998e46deb778bc45225f7e22c2

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The part I’m wondering about is whether this whole lunar setup is meant to mirror Teyvat itself.

Ungien’s Circle being hidden by a lunar veil feels like a pretty obvious parallel to Teyvat being under the false sky. So if the Circle mirrors Teyvat, maybe the rest of the structure also maps onto things we already know.

The Space Lifeform Capture Station being at the top is what made me think of Khaenri’ah again. I know the station itself is part of the lunar system, and I’m not saying the quest confirmed Khaenri’ah is literally above Teyvat. But.. what if it is? as an allegory, it feels sus.

Khaenri’ah was involved with trying to catch / summon / deal with Descenders, and once previously it was mentioned something about Khaenri’ah’s 'unique location' that allowed them to be close to things or entities from outside Teyvat.
So maybe the top position of the station hints at Khaenri’ah’s “location” there.

The elevator / Skymount could maybe mirror the Spiral Abyss as a connector between layers. I’m not super convinced about this one.

The moon core part feels important - If the lunar system has a core / energy source under everything, maybe Teyvat has something similar too. Maybe reaching to Teyvat's core is the last stop in the traveler's journey.
Also, maybe the core is where the 'gates of pohjola' lead to, and where we'll maybe meet the HP (once he wakes up already lol).

---

Then there’s Ysna'qurrel + Nicole and the squirrels -

Nicole has squirrel statue things, hidden interactions, room stuff, treasure stuff that are related to squirrels. especially that big squirrel statue she did several times, which she said represent humanity.
And since humanity are, as Melanta said, 'Children of Earth', and are all descended from the first descender, then it could be an allegory for the HP and his lineage.

And then we get Ysna’qurel.

Ysna’qurel sounds way too close to “squirrel” for me to ignore. Maybe I’m being insane lmao, but this is Genshin, so names being sus is usually fair game.

So I’m wondering if Nicole’s squirrel motif was hinting at Ysna’qurel being the HP.

Moongazer’s Engraving II says he defeated seven monsters, or seven compatriots (compatriots? could be very sus. maybe because Ysna'qurel is the alien entity that merged with Ungien - so if we look at it from the Ungien side of things, then the dragons would be his compatriots), and 'brought the world under his empire'.

They also keep calling him “child of Ghel’vur” when he speaks. I haven’t found what Ghel’vur is supposed to hint at yet, but the repetition feels intentional.

----
I also keep thinking about Ibni Belum.

At first I thought Ibni Belum might be Nibelung because the letters are almost the same if you scramble them. But if I understood correctly, Nibelung had already left by the time Ibni Belum built the Eye, so that probably doesn’t work entirely - at least it the sense of BEING Nibelung. But... maybe it is someone very close or related to him.

“ibni” in Arabic means “my son,” while “ibn” means “son of.”

So maybe Ibni Belum is not Nibelung, but someone descended from him or carrying his legacy. Maybe Kukulkan? He isn’t exactly Nibelung’s son, but he is kind of descended from him / tied to his legacy.

Building on that - what if Ungien represents the “Primordial Human” that later became the Heavenly Principles, or at least the vessel / form that became Phanes? I guess this theory will only hold if Nibelung is indeed the god of light, and he created a vessel in his own image (Ungien), only for it to be stolen by Ysna'qurel.
Another caveat of this theory is that Ungien is said to willingly have fused with Ysna'qurel, but idk, maybe Ungien didn't completely understand the implications.

Maybe that fusion is what created the Phanes / Heavenly Principles we know now.

So that Nibelung is basically the King of Light, since he ruled over the Light Realm / dragon world, while Ysna’qurel is the King of Darkness.

Then Ysna’qurel fusing with Ungien could be the King of Darkness taking over / merging with a body made in the image of the King of Light’s world.

I’m not saying Phanes is literally a dragon. The Moon Sisters also had human forms, so form doesn’t prove species. I mean more that the “Primordial Human” could be the result of combining opposing powers.

Maybe Descenders / Primordial Humans are defined by that mixture of light and dark.

Maybe Nibelung only became Descender like after returning from the Abyss, because then he had both light and darkness in him, which might be why he's the second and not the first descender despite being in Teyvat first?

And if Ysna’qurel came from the twins’ planet / ship / ship AI or whatever, then maybe the message the Traveler and sibling received was connected to the same entity. Maybe that entity later reached Teyvat, fused with Ungien, and became the Heavenly Principles.

Again, I know this is crack. I might be wrong about parts of it, so please correct anything inaccurate.

I mostly wanted to post this because there haven’t been lore videos since the quest ended, I guess because the lore YouTubers are still working on it, and I have that hole of curiosity I have to fill lmao

So the questions I’m left with:

• Could the top position of the space lifeform capture station say something about Khaenri’ah’s “unique location"?
• Could the elevator / Skymount be a Spiral Abyss parallel, or is that reaching?
• Could Nicole’s squirrel thing be hinting towards Ysna’qurel = HP?
• Has anyone found anything on Ghel’vur / Ibni Belum?

Thanks for reading!

I'm Israeli. Born and raised.

I frankly don't know what is the best solution for this conflict. Two state solution would seem like the most plausible one. It's not a perfect solution, but probably the most plausible one - especially after everything else didn't work.

The current status quo cannot continue, as both nations suffer.

I sometimes wonder though - how would such a country look like?

I find it a bit odd that considering the fact that the Palestinians' lifelong aspiration is to have their own country, no one has any idea how it would look like, and even if it would be democratic.

That's not to say they don't deserve their self determination, but I think about Herzl that had a very detailed vision for Israel, down to the level of working hours.

And considering that they fight so hard for this allegedly, I find it very odd that no one has an idea how it would look like. I feel like if they'd present their vision for it, they could gain a lot more worldwide recognition and endorsement, including from Israel or other factions that were wary of them having a country.

So when I'm looking at facts and the Palestinian leadership over the years, I can't not wonder about this. It seems that for the Palestinian leaderships so far, the goal was more about destroying Israel up until now, and this has never changed whether if it was Arafat, Abu Mazen or Sinwar.

Regardless of the bad blood and lack of trust between the two nations, I still know Palestinian people who I love dearly, and I believe there are a lot of people there that just want peace.

But still, this part is a bit weird for me, and I don't think a two state solution or peace can happen until they acknowledge Israel and get Hamas under control. Anyway, it's a bit hard to believe that their leadership's (at all times) goal is something other than destroying Israel, and them never once sharing a vision for their country just shows that at the moment, it's a secondary goal to say the least

That's it just wanted to get it off my system

In quantum physics, superposition is the idea that something can exist in multiple possible states at the same time till it’s observed, and once observed it gets 'locked' into a definite state.

What if this is the essence of being a descender?

Maybe their state only becomes 'fixed' once observed by Celestia/Phanes?

That could explain why both Nibelung and characters that are third descender coded like Childe are so associated with the Abyss.

They could've started as beings without a fixed state, but drifted toward what Alice described as fixed 'fate that has not come to pass'.

I also wonder if this connects to Melanta's explanation about the primordial human being made from both light and dark.

In the Narzissenkreutz notes, it is implied that Primordial human equals descender.

If this is indeed the case - then a descender inherently contains/has the potential of all possibilities and maybe is in superposition/not in a fixed state.

That could explain why it can transcend fate in the first place.

It could also explain why the twins can absorb seemingly unlimited abyssal energy.

Maybe they can convert unrealized possibilities, 'fates that have not come to pass', from Abyss into potential to become real and in the opposite state - light.

In other words, maybe they can reverse engineer fate itself and shift a fixed outcome into a different possible state.

Also what if it's possible for a descender to truly transcend fate only during their cycle of arrival?

And then once they become fully integrated into Teyvat’s system, they aren't in superposition anymore and gain a fixed state like everyone else. That might be why Phanes is described in Nicole’s teaser as neither 'all powerful or all knowing', and paranoid of losing power.

Maybe even Phanes eventually became bound to a determined state.

Let me know what you think :)

Hey there, I’m visiting London for work next week (May 11-14) and figured it could be cool to meet some local musicians/producers while I’m there.

I make music under the name RALKI - mostly somewhere between indie rock, alternative electronic, neo soul, psychedelic stuff, guitars, synths,

Big fan of artists like Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Radiohead, James Blake, and all kinds of weird genre-crossing stuff.

I sing, produce in Ableton, play guitar, and I’m always down to experiment creatively. Doesn’t have to be super serious either - could just be jamming, producing together, writing, recording vocals, talking music over beers, whatever feels natural.

If anyone in London is into similar stuff and wants to collab or hang out musically while I’m around, hit me up ✌️I'll prob be the most available May 14, but our schedule ends in 3pm every day so I believe in other days as well.

My music - https://linktr.ee/Ralki92

Especially with the rise of AI and the ethical questions that come with it, the philosophical questions the game explores couldn't have come out at a more fitting time.

Tbh, when I first started playing Genshin, I did so because a friend of mine really nagged me about it but mostly for gameplay reasons as we both love anime and anime themed games.

He's much more into the gameplay aspect of Genshin, which I love too but I admittedly play less nowadays because of how time draining it has been for me (34M), so atm I pretty much only play when there's a new version. I do the AQs and some exploration, spiral abyss theatre etc but I'm much more into the lore, and still following it much more frequently. I also got that same friend more into the lore bc of that 🤣

Anyway I digress - I was about to say that at first I was very impatient to the dialogue for its pacing and how childish it seemed on surface level, but oh I was so wrong. I auto replayed all dialogue, and then there was a point in the Sumeru AQ where >!Dottore told Nahida "Have you ever heard the saying that Teyvat's sky is fake?"!< and goddamn this phrase was so unexpected for me in the game as I thought I knew it so far, and it really piqued my curiosity because I never watched such an intriguing and terrifying take.

That got me down the rabbit hole which I am in still up until today, and it's the best storytelling ever, seriously. Well I'm in a Genshin Lore sub so I guess y'all share this last sentiment with me hehe

But I digress again - at any case, since following the lore I got super curious about the 'unknowns' of our universe, and as a super inquisitive guy in nature I always thought about these types of things to a certain extent (with the appropriate skepticism but a really open mind), and following the lore made me contemplate it even more - philosophy of AI, outer space, nature of the universe, quantum physics etc.

Thanks for reading so far!

I wanted to hear if y'all share these sentiments and if not then what got you down the lore hole :)

I want to ask for your opinion on something I didn't completely understand.

In the temple of space quest - we are told that Asmoday lacks empathy, and named her watchers the two things she could deal with the least: melancholy and emptiness.

I watched some lore theorists who took it as that Asmoday suffers from melancholy. And it could be true, but before seeing this interpretation, the way I took it while playing the quest was that since she's incapable of empathy and therefore of feelings in general, and therefore she wouldn't suffer from melancholy because she's incapable of human feelings as a whole.

How did you interpret this part?