**NOTES & CORRECTIONS** - A brand new YT theorist made a video on Kaeya which has some nice overlap with this theory! I only found it after the video was finished, otherwise I would have given it a proper shoutout, because they made some really awesome connections!! th-cam.com/video/ajNxiVgD13s/w-d-xo.html - The person who mentioned the owl-domain tablet thing first was apparently a friend of mine, Kitkat! They saw the video and went "WAIT THAT WAS ME!" Haha~
Hi, thanks for the shoutout! Just a quick observation about the domain mural: I think it might portray some kind of chariot. Those winged things look like two giant birds facing each other. Maybe peacocks or swans. If you look closely, there are a two thin metal strips over their "heads", which would be the reigns. My guess is it's pulling the Triquetra? There is a Seelie holding two laurel branches, which form a wreath around the Triquetra. The Triquetra shoots an arrow/spear towards (what I assume) the Primordial One. If we go by your Athena theme and squint a little, maybe the Triquetra acts as a shield she is holding. Actually, what's odd is that the 8-pointed star on the door to Khaenri'ah is also shooting out a (red) arrow from the northest point of the star...🤷♀️
Idk if I see an owl at the end, but the bottom half DOES look like wings to me, even before you made the suggestion of being an owl. That being said, they look a bit more bug-like to me, rather than feathery.
Poor diluc, his brothers a khaenrian spy, his dad was possibly a harbinger, AND hes been raised to fit some lady's definition of a ruler, bro can't catch a break fr 😭
Kaeya being an actual spy is not a substantiated claim anymore. It’s been debunked by Kaeya himself. Kaeya says he doesn’t know why he was left in Mondstadt; he originally thought it was to be a saboteur of some sort, but now that he is older, he’s unsure about this. He goes on to posit the theory that perhaps it was simply so he could have a good life. Which confirms he has never had contact with his father since he was left there AND clarifies that there was never a discussion as to why it was happening. There was no insidious plan of action shared with him and no directions given to him. He was simply left there and told he was their last hope. This, when viewed under this lens, does sound like the somber goodbye of a loving parent. If your father was going to leave you, the last non-cursed son of an ancient bloodline, in the care of someone else in order to keep you safe from your family’s hideous lineage and inherent danger of said history, they might say you are the last hope for your country- in that you are the last remnant of it able to continue the bloodline without the curse.
At this point I anticipate Ashikai videos more than Special Program. When I'm playing the story, I can't wait to hear what you'll have to say about certain parts. Your videos have become an absolutely integral part of what I love so much about Genshin.
Same here! Ashikai is what turned me into a lore player and have learned so much about our world in the process I always say; if Genshin had an actual academy, having Genshin historians as professors would have me making top marks left and right
@@Counting_Bubbles Oh my gosh same! I was honestly just thinking about a "scholarly" approach to understanding all of this 😅 involving note taking and record-keeping. The lore is now my absolute favorite part because of Ashikai.
absolutely same! i play through the quests awaiting what ashikai has to say about certain things. and refresh her page all the time looking for new vids. it's helped me learn so much about both genshin and earth history tbh. reason i am a lore player
Ashikai brought me back into genshin after abandoning the game after 1.5. One of her videos randomly plopped into my algorthymn and I gave it a shot because I was bored. The rest is history... :D
I find it fascinating how Fate in Genshin works like computer code, with Teyvat being the Hardware and Fate being the Software that keeps everything within the will of the programmer (Celestia): - Irminsul would be the central server that collects and processes information, with Nahida and before her [REDACTED] being the administrators. - The Abyss is a virus that corrodes the system - Ley lines are the circuit that keeps energy and information in circulation within the system - Descenders are external entities that exist outside the limits of the system and are capable of interfering with it (The Traveler's interference was partly the reason the Prophecy was avoided)
That's a great analogy. I personally think that the virus would be forbidden knowledge specifically, while the Abyss is like the outside of the closed network of Teyvat.
Bro keep cooking -The eggshell separating teyvat from the universe is the computer case -Teyvat is the computer running, visualized on the screen, which is the fake sky -The Abyss is a computer virus and abyssal power is just Quanta and as such the room where the computer is -The Primordial One is just the computer user -Irminsul is the CPU, ley lines are the circuits and all Irminsul saves from Teyvat history is stored on a hard drive -Primordial One created Teyvat with the graphics card -Dragon soveriegns and before the PO came were just the motherboard
@@vergiltasev7108 Is there a massive difference between the Abyss and Forbidden Knowledge.. maybe, I am not sure, they're often described interchangeably, as an element, rather than the Abyss Order, I mean.
Also when you talked about the essay “the prince” and how Nicole might want to shape Diluc in that image as a leader I immediately thought about that one weird statement in Dilucs 5 star outfit: “On silent nights, the edge hidden under the velvet glove of the noble princeling will be unsheathed to counter any threat”. Here Diluc is described as a sort of prince and it’s also pretty weird that this 5star outfit came out the same patch as the second golden apple archipelago (2.8) where you drew the connections with Monas Domain etc.
I think it’s important to point out that Arthurian legends as we know them today are not the original version of the story, they have been written by Norman/English scribes post Norman conquest. Original story has it’s roots at the time when Anglo-Saxon people were settling the island and Anglo-Saxons are culturally Germanic
i thought the same!! when she was putting the idea down going "i know mondstadt is mostly germanic but..." i was trying not to scream but arthurian tales ARE germanic, theres a reason why english is a germanic language and with the era they pull from its honestly quite a relevant comparison of cultures thinking of all the germanic tribes and such
Actually, the 'original' stories (to the extent they exist) are pre-anglo-saxon, being closely tied to Welsh mythology. But that's just one part of the mythos. Most of the Arturian mythology we know today has French origins. (Chretien de Troyes creates Lancelot and the grail quest).
@@hmmmooops LMAO FR THO (skirk’s design kinda disappointed me tbh, i fell in love with her concept designs and then we ended up with a kinda cheap looking hsr knockoff)
Don't forget that Alice might have been Eris from Enkanomiya, especially considering her association with the Golden Apple Archipelago, considering that Eris was the Greek Goddess of Discord who caused the Trojan War with a Golden Apple.
Yeah this is great because this fits even further into this insane theory that I have, about the Witches being celestial beings related to the 4 shades the Moon Sisters and Khaenri'ah but it's pretty tenuous and whilst there are multiple links none of them are conclusive.
if alice was in enka and was a god who has somehow lived since the unified civilization times, it definitely makes her so much more suspicious. i wonder if her longevity and her age could mean that she is a seelie, especially since enkanomiya sank around the time seelies began to wither away. if the goddess of flowers could survive after the seelies its not unreasonable that others survived. elf ears also totally seem like a seelie/vishap thing to have lol
I always found it weird how Diluc's birthday is April 30th. I might be wrong, but iirc, Walpurgis Night, which is a night heavily linked to witches (some sources I've read contradicted each other tho on if it was a night of sabbat for witches, or if it was a night against witchcraft), takes place the night of April 30th. Maybe it's just a coincidence but I find it funny. Or maybe I am totally wrong and I didn't do my research correctly.
Diluc was born in April 30th which is when walpurgisnacht is celebrated and it means "the day when the witches gather" or something like that, maybe it's a coincidence or maybe it's not
Didn't expect speculators on Diluc's character here. Interesting idea regarding Nicole possibly grooming him to be the "perfect prince". Since he maintains certain public image, but does a lot of dirty work covertly. And the uncrowned king thing, worth noting that he's a successor to one of Mondstad's founding families
At this point, I don't even care if these theories are hits or misses. Anything you put out that has actual real-world historical accuracy is always a gem and super fun to learn about. We had Witches, we had Diluc, we had Kaeya, we had Khaenri'ah, we had Sumeru, we had Greek Goddesses AND even another trip back to the GAA. This was truly facinating ❤ Thank you for all your hard work chugging that brain juice bc mine is slowly fizzling out
I think Hexenzirkel is a group of witches that want to create/raise a perfect "Prince" who can overthrow Celestia's rule and establish a new world order. Rhinedottir tried this with her semi human in Albedo or the "Chalk Prince" but we don't know if she has succeeded or not. Nicole is trying the same but with pure human who is ready to do necessary evil in Diluc or the "Night Prince". And Mona's master tried the otherworldly experiment by summoning stars (the travelers) from beyond Tevyat. Who knows Tsaritsa is also being directed by some other witch for the same purpose? Same goes for Abyss Order too("The Sinner" sounds like a perfect alias for a witch as we already know Rhinedottir is also a sinner). Heck what about Focalors? I don't think she came up with such a brilliant idea by herself while she was underwater. The reasons why I think it was Mona's master who summoned the travelers are a)they deal with fate and starry stuff and b) Only Scaramouche mentions that our arrival was pre calculated. He also deals with the starry stuff and fate and was the first one to point out that sky is fake. However there was no intention to summon two stars, hence Mona's master made us sleep in the Starfell Valley(where we start the game, and its the area that has Starsnatch Cliff and Cider Lake). Our sibling went through the whole process of becoming the "prince/princess" but somehow failed. Instead sibling became corrupted instead and joined the opposite forces. Hence now they wake us up and start the whole process again. Its interesting to note that when we first wake up, we wandered around aimlessly until we fished out Paimon. And guess what? Paimon is our "guide", and is the being that initiated our adventures across Tevyat. And where do we meet Paimon? Starsnatch Cliff. Where does she takes us? To the North, towards the Monstadt City. In short Nicole and Mona's master have been working in tandem to guide us to become the next "Prince" ever since the game started. Because how come when we requested for Mona's master help but Nicole answered instead?
Interesting Add to this the Sal Vindagnyr / Dragonspine princess who was capable of prophecy (aided by Barbeloth/Mona's master?) but failed to overcome/prevent the Divine Nail
@@orian1642 Yup that too! Also the story is narrated by Venti, and guess who we meet when Paimon leads us to Monstadt City?Venti and Dvalin.He is also the only known archon who is on amiable terms with the Hexenzirkel. Heck the whole Hexenzirkel meeting place is in Monstadt. Who knows Klee might be the contender representing Alice? That is why Alice left her in the city to get familiar with humans and even holds an authority by becoming a Knight of Favonius. She is young sure, immature too but she is already a genius compared to kids of her age.
I always wonder why did the hexenzirkel comply easily with venti (or so it seemed). What was the bargaining chip for those powerful women to call off their challenge to him. Maybe they made a some sort of agreement? What if the witches' goal was to challenge celestia through the archons but venti actually has intentions aligned with them, to free people from the heavenly principles. They became affiliates since that day and planned another tactics. Maybe that's why venti's statue of the 7 description tells us about it waiting for a noble soul to arrive (as the said noble souls were being summoned by the universitas magistrorum). Heh. I cant wait for mondstadt expansion and venti's 2nd story quest.
given that dvalin was confirmed as a vishap, mondstat is the gateway to celestia and pretty closely resembles a key, i think venti has probably already been planning to rebel against celestia. it would also explain why he didn’t try to get his gnosis back (i know other archons weren’t upset, but they willingly gave it away but venti had his stolen), and we will probably learn more during his second story quest. venti is a part of istaroth, which probably means his somewhat omnipotent knowledge of past and future is something he could inform the hexenzirkle of. the three moon sisters were either driven away or killed, and the morningstars are presumably the siblings. so, i think most beings from celestia like the shades, seelies, sprites like venti would totally rebel against celestia because we’ve already seen it in the goddess of flowers, and his close ties with what is probably the anemo soverign means that he knows possibly even more than the hexenzirkle does in some areas.
Venti is super sus overall with his "i know all the songs of the past, the present and the future" and his even more sus voice line about furina. I already speculated that he might be a visionary himself and let his gnosis be taken
@@jonnypma oh god that’s such a great voice line, i think it would be really interesting because fontaine has been the first nation to destroy its heavenly throne, which is kinda the beginning of the end for celestia. furina being the only mortal archon but also important to the overarching story of teyvat reminds me of venti’s friend, despite them both being mortal they still managed to seemingly defy fate so it makes sense if venti is aware of how impressive furina is regardless of her being a human
idk i have the feeling the whole celestia thing will be a big plot twist. if the twins were summoned to teyvat why would celestia hinder us from leaving? it would be in the interest of the ones who summoned us to stay in teyvat
i think hoyo was genuinely playing the long game with mondstat and liyue’s story, the amount of information that can be related back to old events and info that previously seemed irrelevant (kaeya’s voicelines about his grandfather, the prince thing) and i love how the game consistently revisits old ground to show how it connects back to the overall story of teyvat. and now, we’re getting chenyu vale which will probably give us a lot more context about liyue’s past. it’s genuinely great writing and it makes it really rewarding to be invested in the lore too
I think the connection with The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli explains a part of the Traveller's personality. In many of the world quests, when faced with an enemy like the fatui, there is always a clear dialogue choice wherein the traveller mercilessly kills the enemy for their crimes; merciless like the ideal prince. Although this choice is left onto the player on whether to spare or kill, the fact that the choice itself exists is significant, as in many tales the hero is supposed to never act immorally. I know this theory focuses on Diluc as the Prince, but taking into account Kaeya, they could be mirroring the traveller and their sibling as well.
It is most likely to be Diluc, in addition to what she said in the video there are more signs of Diluc with the Witches, Alice has had her eye on Diluc since he was young, the carpet in his mansion also has symbols from Nicole's chicara, his skin makes reference to him being the prince of mondatadt, he is called the king without a crown and his birthday is linked to Halloween Furthermore, in Diluc's house there is a statue decorated with an owl, the interaction speech is suspicious to say the least.
If any of you are curious about the inscription @@Antony_o_goat mentioned on the owl statue, I’ll leave it below. “O watcher of the night, forget not the splendor of the dawn. O ye who contend with evildoers, sway not from the path of righteousness.”
Is there a reason why you didn’t mention the theory that Nicole could be Diluc’s mother? I personally believe it’s probably correct but even if it isn’t and Nicole is just his mentor means that we now have 4 playable children/students of the hexenzirkel. Albedo is gold’s son/creation, Klee is Alice’s daughter, Mona is B’s student, and diluc is Nicole’s student/avatar/possible son/doesn’t matter.
Yeah! It's real off since Nicole being Diluc's mother was like the TOP theory after 3.5 came out! and it'd make SO much sense, I'm wondering why she didn't go over it? oh and the "probing mother" thing would ALSO make more sense!
@@marismoments39 Maybe because in this Theory she was assosiating Nicole with a concept or a non human voice rather than a human, so it would be a mess to try a decipher how Diluc came to be? Or idk maybe she though it was explored enough
When you related Nicole to the Goddess Nike, I immediately thought of Diluc's eagle or even Vennessa. In Greek art, the goddess Nike is often depicted with an eagle on her side. Even Athena is associated with eagles.
"We don't talk about the Hexenzirkel, we kinda just ignore them" Miss Ashikai, the Hexenzirkel lives rent-free in my mind ever since I read Before Sun and Moon.
Omg when you mentioned how Owl could be a representative of Nicole and related it to Diluc I thought you'd definitely mention the small owl statue right beside the staircase! It has an interesting dialogue as well, talking about the "owl" of Dragonspine. This has been a small theory/headcanon of mine since I saw the teapot set of Nicole.
I remember seeing a post on HoYoLAB saying that there’s a theory that Nicole is actually Diluc’s mom. Or we’ll at least his mom was a witch. So Nicole watching over Diluc and helping him out actually makes sense if you believe that she’s our favorite redhead’s mother.
So basically everyone's successors are in Mondstadt (besides ivanovna's) Alice - Klee Rhinedottir - Albedo Barbeloth - Mona Andersdotter - Lisa (theory) Nicole - Diluc (theory) What are they plotting 😩
the hexenzirkle (as in witches in a circle as a literal translation from german) might also be referring to the german folklore of witches meeting annually up on a famous hill called „Blocksberg“(the genshin counterpart being the starsnatcher cliff), where they would „dance around in a circle“ but I believe somebody else already pointed this out, it just became apparent to me once again whilst talking about their preferred location for their little tea party
So you mean to say that these powerful beings gather and dance around on *Starsnatch* Cliff, which just so happens to overlook the beach that the Traveler wakes up on? 🤔
I think in the last Fountain Archon quest, when Mona tried to contact her Master, it was Nicole's intervention that prevented her from succeeding. And also, remember: Mona tried to contact her Master, and Nicole came almost immediately after that to the Traveler. (SUS) Nicole doesn't just guide people; she literally guides fate. Come to think of it: she might be a strategist, or rather, a chess player as some would say....
Another interesting fact is that the fire place in the dawn winery (which is also only found there) has these same patterns like Dilucs jacket or the teacup. We can craft this fire place for the teacup and it’s description tells us that it is styled after those from the northern lands. Now in Dilucs character story it is specifically stated that the third party observer (who rescued diluc from the harbingers) also hails from the north. This little detail further deepens the connection to Nicole as well.
The whole thing with Diluc being the uncrowned king of Monstadt made me wonder something. What if we are looking at him the wrong way and he's not meant to be a king of Monstadt but where many other red heads are known to come from...Natlan. I mean, I know his family clearly has been in Monstadt for awhile now, but for how far back? And it's not like people from Natlan hadn't ended up in Monstadt before, I mean we already had Vanessa and her people from there. And I keep hearing about a this idea of a possible reason for war in Natlan to be over succession...most likely over the throne of the Archon. Plus Diluc's vision is Pyro 🤷♂️...so yeah, food for thought. Either that, or Diluc's existence is maybe just something that mirrors what is going on in Natlan, like maybe we will see a similar story in Natlan that is very similar to what Diluc went through with his dad. AND Kaeya might even come into play because he's basically a heir as well, just to a different nation. I almost wonder if we will get a war in Natlan over the Archon throne from two "siblings" that are not blood related, like Diluc and Kaeya.
We saw a Gunnhildr and we believe a Ravingder (can’t spell the names rip) in the cut scene of the revolution against Decarabian which took place thousands of years ago sooo
I notice how the Witches and Khaenri'an's leave traces of themselves in the current generation of Mondstat: Gold = Albedo Barbeloth = Mona Alice = Klee Nicole = Diluc I have theories for: Andersdotter M = Lisa Minci Surtalogi = Kaeya Alberich But these need more time in the pot/oven.
If Diluc is Nicole/Athena Nike's champion , maybe Kreideprinz is Rhinedottir/Gold's champion Maybe the Hexenzirkel were playing Fate Grand Order all along
not only is Niclole's pattern on Diluc's coat but also the fire place at the Dawn Winary (14:14). So she may be someone closer (his mother?) and may not have just been watching him at that time when he was younger hehe
I’m amazed at every single Ashikai video but I’m doubly amazed by the commenters pointing out EVEN MORE connections Ashikai may have missed 😭 you guys are too smart
The talk about Fate and it's unchangeability/defiance etc etc reminds me of (spoilers for Kaeya's hangout quest) The first ending in his hangout where we do the whole play thingy in Sumeru and it's all about going off script and "changing the fate" of the prince. And then later in the dialog when it's pretty clear that Kaeya wasn't simply acting there, he even makes that one comment about "I admire people who go against Fate and do what they want" or something along those lines, I'll need to recheck. Pretty nifty little detail/foreshadow methinks
Really love the sudden importance of the Starsnatch cliff in lore, kinda find it funny now that it conveniently overlooks where the Traveller first wakes up. You know, the star they snatched.
I have to point out in terms of the domain design of Midsummer courtyard, that it is not the only domain with that design, in fact at early game 5 other domains are designed the same way: Valley of Rememberance, Ridge Watch, Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula, Domain of Guyun and the Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern. Not to say that the direct reference to Sommernachtgarten in the Midsummer Courtyard isn't sus, but just pointing it out, I have actually gone inside all domains in genshin with charlotte to take pictures of them, it's very VERY fun to look at all details
man, everytime i watch an ashikai video, i'm always like, "how can i create a game that is so deep and secretively mysterious in it's lore, worldbuilding, and storytelling like genshin?" i want to make a game that makes people like ashikai research the most obscure yet still intriguing historical tidbits of human history and attempt to connect the dots to solve my story before i even let the players get to the end of said story. i wonder how i can do that effectively, and what is needed to do that.
3:59 Fun fact: The Mondstadt Library was formerly a bathhouse nobles of the ancient times used and was converted into a library by the Dawn Knight Ragnvindr after Vennessa's rebellion.
On the thought of avalon, a herxenzirkel tea party was also held on a hidden floating island near falcon coast. When fontaine was released i was thinking what if the 7 nations went to war with each other. Surely monstadt will be the weakest (on paper at least) but monstadt's ties to the cataclysm is so deep rooted that it cant be unnoticed. Rhinedottir was initially the "reason" for the cataclysm which is ironic since she was also a member of the herxenzirkel and as we know these witches dont settle problems with wars. And as well know even though fontaine and sumeru are powerhouses of nations, they were still devastated by the cataclysm heavily. Monstadt however stood tall and strong even if their theme is medieval. I know one day we will know, why monstadt is the nation that the traveller's story started and how mondstadt is indeed the most powerful nation in all of teyvat coz of its ties with multiple herxenzirkel members. All of these made me believe that, Varka's expedition, as many people believe to be an expedition to kanreiah is not what it seems. Having Alice on that expedition team only leads me to believe that they are either exploring the dark sea or better yet they are "up there" exploring the "deserted" island up in the sky which we believe to be celestia but then again it perplexes me as to why lisa, a mage considered to be a powerful mage doesnt want to be associated with the witche's coven in any way shape or form.
I love your videos, both the solid theories and the rabbit holes (of neverending circles of familarity). Thank you for sharing with us and inspiring so many of us to be more skeptical and speculative concerning the lore. You've made this game infinitely more entertaining.
My personal theory was that Nicole was a previous God of Wisdom from a previous samsara circle, Not necessarily a Dendro Archon, just a God of Wisdom. The idea is that she deleted herself from Irminsul when she realized that true knowledge is fate itself, as Nahida puts it. So in an attempt to relieve herself from her duty, Nicole tampered with the tree in order to pursue this higher form of knowledge, but unbeknownst to her, a person cannot erase themselves from Irminsul, someone else must do it for them, so she imparted this to her successor, Most likely the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, which in turn perform the process the right way by creating Nahida to take her place and finish the job. This is why Nicole still exists but there's no record of her doings. My only evidences are her dialogues, of course, but also, her appearance, right after a quest all about someone erasing one self from existence. Nicole has obvious connections to irminsul, so the idea that she as a former keeper of the tree is something I considered for some time. Also, Nahida and Nicole both start with the letter N and have 6 letters. Now I wonder about the intentions of the hexenzirkel, because as far as we know, they're not good people. Alice is a psycho, creating contraptions of Hillichurls and launching them from catapults just to see what happens, she blew up a portion of Decarabian's tower and messed up an entire island ecosystem just to create a temporary playground for her Daughter. Gold created city destroying Kaiju that wrecked havoc during the cataclysm and while Mona does tend to exaggerate, the way she talks about Barabeloth doesn't paint a nice picture of her, Mona ain't the nicest person out there but the girl takes every opportunity to insult the Old Hag. All this plus the fact that, from her known successors, Klee and Albedo both have some extreme destructive tendencies. Klee is played for comedy, but Albedo takes his own threat to Mondstadt quite serious. Obviously we don't know much about the rest of the group, but if "you are the company that you keep", then I don't think the circle will be as benevolent as we might think.
Looking forward to meeting Klee’s mom, Alice. She travels the universe and perhaps is the one who heavenly summoned the Travelers to Teyvat. She seems to be open to giving all sorts of information about the others on the circle.
Ahhh what a great video! This just made me think more about Diluc and his connections to the hexenzirkel now… For instance, I wonder if there is any important significance to the owl you can interact with in the Dawn winery mansion? The one that says, "O watcher of the night, forget not the splendor of the dawn,” and “O ye who contend with evildoers, sway not from the path of righteousness." Also- and this isn’t my discovery, I just can’t find the Twitter post where I saw this, so I’m sorry that I can’t credit atm- I saw someone on Twitter point out that the flowers on Diluc’s belt and jacket could perhaps be olive flowers bc they’re four pointed. Another connection to Athena perhaps? They ALSO pointed out that the patten on Diluc’s tie looks like the sigil of Lucifer. If you check out Diluc’s outfit further you’ll notice he also has four pointed stars littered throughout it. The ones on his back even glow red in the dark. In the manga he’s even wearing a silver pin with an 8 pointed star on his left lapel in one of the panels, and there is a cover image (also in the manga) where Diluc is wearing a white outfit. In there you can see that the gloves he is wearing have a four pointed star on the back of the hand, AND the pin he’s wearing on his left lapel also has small four pointed stars hanging off it. Also kind of tangential but the patterns on the cuffs of his coat kind of resemble owls haha. On the topic of owls, I do wonder if the wings of concealing snow have anything to do with him.. Great video as always! This video had me so excited I just had to comment for the first time 💕💕
We desperatly need a second story quest for Kaeya. Or hopefully we'll see more of him in the upcoming dainslief quest. Last time he showed up we ended up having more questions than answers especially with the deleted voicelines of kaeya saying his dad left him in monstadt to "save him"
FINALLY a solid theory for why Kaeya was left at the Dawn Winery of all places! 😂 A thought- what if Dainsleif was Nicole's previous "Diluc" then? He's called the bough keeper and it's assumed that means something to do with Irminsul but what if it's more like Nicole is the landscape designer and he was the gardener, cutting branches (of fate?) according to her wishes while she guides other ones. Our Sibling references a betrayal he committed/failure in duty, it would be an interesting tie-in if it was a task Nicole set for him that he either DID or DIDN'T see through. Great opportunity to set up some of those morals vs leadership dilemmas!
Ah finally! I was waiting for you to make a connection between Nicole and Diluc for quite a long time now. Even the design on the carpet at the dining room is exactly like Diluc's coat and the Tea cup on the table and by the fire place and Hexenzirkel meeting place. I won't be surprised if Nicole was Diluc's mom and could make him live longer. As a Diluc main I am so happy with what you shared here. Thank you!!!
Just an interesting tidbit.. Comets typically have low albedo, meaning that while they appear bright in the sky, they are in fact almost pitch black in their composition. This could explain the black star motif we see around Khaenri'ah.
The parallel between diluc and an owl made me think about kaeya's voice line "interesting things" and the way it feels like he's talking about diluc omgg
When I heard about the uncrowned king of monstadt bit, I thought "oh, maybe it's because he heads Monstadt's alcoholic industry, but himself doesnxt like imbibing. He's got the magic keys to the city, aka the heart of the people in his hands, but tosses it in a drawer somewhere to sip apple juice."
you said that Nicole might have similar power to the traveler where Irminsul don't affect her memories but what if she's in another realm I noticed when Skirk mentioned she doesn't want to be in real world
Skirk mentioned she dosn't wish to return to the surface, in preference for what ever lies beyond the microcosm of Teyvat's bubble, which probably, those inside refer to as the Abyss. Also, I'd wager that the Abyss name was infact put in place by Celestia in order to portray everything from the outside as bad and evil.
Holy shit, not only a mind blowing theory but a pretty nice editing too! This one is quite visibly pleasant for some reason, the editing kinda scratched a part of my brain that I did not realized was itching until finally you came and fixed it, thank you very Ashikai, this was wonderful
the travellers literally have a star with an elongated side depicting a sword in their constellation. you probably forgot to mention that parallel as well so putting this here.
Fun Point about Arthurian Legends, while it was certainly expanded upon and has been tied to Britain for centres, we originally stole the bulk of it from what would become France and Germany. Another great exploration on Genshin Lore, and I'm glad to see the Hexenzirkel feature more in the plot.
4:05 could this mean Nicole is dilucs mom? after all in his character story it only says things about his dad so we don't know who his mother is. and the tea sets colors are pretty similar to his clothing wi(t)ch we have seen in another mother-child situation before with ganyu, shenhe an xianyun.
so eehhh you said the Alberichs kinda split into two sides, one with Anfortas and one with Clothar? Well... in IRL history, there was one Frankish Merovingian king named Chlothar IV that was basically planted there by Charles Martel, before Martel took over kingship of the Frankish Kingdom in 718. Martel was NOT of Royal blood but his family were MARSHALS AND STEWARDS. Now what's interesting about Charles Martel is: 1) He's Charlemagne's grandfather; 2) his bloodline and his *brother's* bloodline are named differently. Charles Martel's bloodline is known as the Carolingians, while his brother's, Childebrand I's, bloodline, was known as the *NIBELUNGIDS.* So IRL we have Charles Martel who was not of Royal descent, used a Merovingian Frank who WAS of royal descent named Clothar for his own gains, eventually took over power and founded his own new dynasty of which his grandson Charlemagne reunited the Frankish realms and created the Frankish (Holy Roman) Empire. And he had a brother whose lineage went down into obscurity which was named 'Nibelungids' after his son Nibelung. Meanwhile in Genshin we have Anfortas Alberich who took over the throne from Irmin and led Khaenri'ahns as good as possible out of the Cataclysm, then lost his left eye during the fighting. We also know that Kaeya allegedly 'inherited his eyepatch from his grandfather'. So if Anfortas is meant to mirror Charles Martel, then Kaeya would mirror... *CHARLEMAGNE.* then we have Clothar and Caribert, who mirror the Nibelungids line from Martel's brother, as they went fully into the Abyssal power that the Dragon King Nibelung also searched for and used against Celestia. IT LINES UP TOO PERFECTLY FOR A COINCIDENCE. also, if the Hexenzirkel formed after the Cataclysm from the leftovers of a Khaenri'ahn 'University', then it should've happened almost DIRECTLY after the Cataclysm because from the 3.5 Windblume event we know that the Hexenzirkel *challenged Venti.* We also know that Venti went back to sleep pretty soon after the Cataclysm.
I screamed for a sec. I’ve been checking back every day!!! Your content makes me happy and I love. It 🎉🎉❤ glad ur taking time to get all this info sorted out and stuff- it’s awesome.
Sorry to go off topic and hark on this but, 6:50 I **STILL** believe our siblings' fate was stolen from them either by Dain himself or that The Sinner we met in our siblings' memories. Either we both had fates that could change the world, or each sibling had 1/2 of the whole fate. I don't have any concrete evidence but them being recorded into the Irminsul's memory despite being from outer space is SUS as fk.
24:29 food for thought regarding the name 深秘院！ 深 shēn means deep, as stated. but one could also make a connection to 深渊 shēn yuān, meaning abyss. 秘 mì means secret or private so not much elaboration here but the connection i wanted to make was: 院 yuàn that could mean courtyard but also an institution. like 学院 xué yuàn (lit. learning courtyard), being a lesser used word for school or an educational institution, thus reinforcing the connection with Universitas being University! just a tiny observation of the connections in the translations, hope it was fun! :3
@Ashikai A) Charlemagne is considered the basis for Arthurian Legend and the founder of the HRE, a member state of the HRE went on to form Germany. There a loose connection. B) I heard somewhere that 'king' used to mean something like 'he who gives out treasure', usually referring to a rulers ability to pay warriors. Maybe that has something to do with Diluc's title? C) Also, on Diluc, he may be a reference to Lancelot (du Lac) as Lancelot was raised by the Lady of the Lake.... and du Lac is kinda similar to Diluc.
I am named after the King Arthur story and my name is Avalon, so I know the story well. I have always tried to find people who knew the background of the story but no one does. This is the first time I've ever seen someone mention the story and the island ( and slightly scared me when I heard my name) I'm so happy you made this connection, it's so cool.
Currently binge watching all of your theories because I'm hyperixating and doing my own research. Your takes are always so inspiring. I also love how you link where you got your information so I can read it too, and continue to spiral into the lore rabbit-hole.
Aaaaaa the witches have me in a chokehold actually aksbaiz I love the references to greek mythos, but that made me question this: if Diluc equals Athena, we can assume Kaeya equals Hera (because of the peacock), then the travelers are Venus who we relate to Aphrodite, Alice is Eris and there are golden apples... Who is Paris? Who is going to bring judgement and practically make the worst war in mythos?? (Honestly this is very crack but bear with me) And considering Childe's real name is Ajax and he was named after a hero, and there were two Ajax in mythology, Ajax the Great/Telamon who is implied to be Childe's inspiration, who had a brother named Teucer, and Ajax the Lesser/Oileus, if there isn't an equivalent of a Trojan War in Teyvat at the end of the game I will be a bit bummed lololol Thank you for the awesome video as always!! (The editing was soo good)
I’m not sure if they have the same power level as a descender, but they definitely are some of the most powerful people in Teyvat. I’m just glad they’re mostly on our side.
15:16 as a person who studied the origins of English I know that it has germanic roots. Which also falls in place perfectly when some things from countries that are English speaking like Great Britain for example, happen to have connections to things from germanic speaking countries. So the fact that Arthurian Legens as metions in that fragment are British they may as well have some connection to germany and germanic speaking countries. Over the years the English launguage has changed a lot yet some thing stayed simillar even if it is in small things. It has always been like this for example when a story is made and is passed down by words or written down over the course of centuries of years the story will change yet remain some what simillar. I dont know if this makes sense however just I am just expressing my personal toughts. I apologize for any mistakes in the comment English is not my first language.
Diluc also says about Mona "I see no need for the' harvest forecasts' of astrologers." and while looking for this quote, there was an archived reddit thread pointing out how...*weird* it is that he has a line for Mona when they never seem to have interacted.
When you talked about the University which Hexenzirkel witches might be part of, i wonder if Lisa might also be a graduate there. Lisa shares so many symbolism and traits with the witches, like the lamp, rose, fond of tea parties, sharing and pursuing knowledge (though she has some reservation in that). She’s also the one telling us about Golden Apple Archipelago (Haar Island). In one of her voicelines, Lisa said she used to be a Grand Mage, but it was not a known position wether in Mondstadt or Sumeru. The only place i remember has position for mage is Khaenriah (Pierro was a royal mage), and Fischl’s imaginary kingdom (Mona was her mage). Since Mage seems similar enough with Witch, i wonder if Lisa was a Grand Mage in the same institution as Hexenzirkel witches, except she didn’t join their circle since she didn’t agree with their goal. When talking about Lisa’s constellation, Mona said that to stop the flow of sand in her hourglass, one needs to put it on its side, which she thought making Lisa seems lazy. However, i think it might also mean that Lisa, whose life cut in half due to a curse, find a way to stop her time, preventing her to die. It also mean that Lisa might be way older than she looks, so her being in the same generation as Hexenzirkel didnt feel that weird. Well, she could be just their successors or descendants, but for some reason, with the way she’s hinting about her true power, i feel like she’s on par of them. Also, it might be just me, but i cant help but feeling that she’s somewhat similar to Black Swan. Maybe because they’re both purple themed, mysterious, and work as book/knowledge keepers.
Check list for Ashikai experience: ✅ Deshret mentioned. ✅ Kaeya mentioned. ✅ "By the way, this character in fact is a reference to a god." ✅ "By the way, this character in fact is a reference to this historical figure." ✅ Mind blown.
This theory got me even more excited to when we finally meet more of the witches I loved meeting Nicole during the Fontaine archon quest, even though it was brief and because I started playing later on in the game I haven't met Alice (if Hoyo could only make events replayable)
I was not expecting a quick history lesson of the origins of witches. Damn gurl. You always make the most informative, interesting and also mind blowing lore vids. Thanks for this again.
This theory makes a lot more sense given that the "wishes" is a form of "Summoning" much like how we got the twins. And the currency we use for those "summoning's" are crystalized primordial stars called "Primo-gems".
About the Golden Apple Archipelago, Alice said this in the 1.6 event: “In another world, there are tales of a wondrous island named after golden apples. Known by many names, it embodies the majestic vistas conjured by human fantasy.” So Alice might have heard the tale of Avalon in another world, and named the Archipelago after that.
It's somewhat funny as Diluc himself moreso is closer to Ares with his choice of bird companion and association with fire and his choice of weapon: a sword. The falcon was quite often used to represent the Birds of Ares with a more metallic flare. Not only that, but wolves by virtue of Rome would also be attributed to Mars when they adopted Ares (as Mars was split up to form both him and Jupiter with the Hellenistic deities). And more interestingly, for a time, the sword Excalibur had a theory tying it back to the sword of Ares that was left in the possession of the Amazons, who were very closely associated with Ares due to their first queen Otrera being his only canonical wife in all Greek mythology, who was later slain by Dionysus and half of the Amazonians during the Indian War, while the other half and most importantly the few children of this marriage being protected by Artemis as Ares had been distracted by his mother summoning him, which eventually lead to him fathering half of the Amazons via a nymph (why Amazonians tend to be considered superhuman and often of one generation in some media). And interestingly, while Athena would be responsible for a lot of Ares' kids deaths, she was also typically the only one to speak and consider him an equal (again, you can't have one aspect pof war without the other). So much so, that a lot of witch-esque practices aren't solely from Hecate. Dragon Bones in particular are a result of Athena guiding a hero to use a slain dragon's bones for a power, which said dragon was in fact Ares' son. Ares did want to kill him, but Athena actually managed to broker a deal. And funny enough, Ares was often the next god in place to deal with any goddess after Hermes to relay messages to: yes, the god of war himself, was the next god on decent status with goddesses to relay messages and the like. And funny enough, Arthur does have a lot of connections to Rome (one being why he wasn't present when Mordred took over Camelot), the big one is actually Guinevere herself. She was part Roman, which loops back to all Romans being descendants of Mars. And fun fact: Nike actually is reference in some circumstances as a child of Ares, who serves Athena. Other times it's Nyx. Which actually don't contradict as surprisingly Ares of the Olympians was rather on good terms with justice, death, and magic as again besides Hecate & Hades, Ares was the next god you'd find associated with dogs. That and the few tales you can find that note this. And well, Ares actual job of protecting Olympus (this is in part to explain why he wasn't a god of a city directly, beyond Greeks such as Athens not being fans of him). Though outside Greece, Ares was oddly applied beyond war itself, so much like his sister: he's an odd deity as we relatively don't have much left beyond weird disconnected events that piece together a jarring image.
This was definitely a lovely video, and I especially like to provide some "good job" to your editor for the very good edits made in this video. I think we can safely say that there is at least some connection between the Hexenzerkiel and Diluc when the evidence is blatant with the tea pot and cup in his manor (and with the fireplace too as one comment in this video reminded me of). Definitely interested to see if they decide to develop Diluc's relationship with the witches in the future, though I suspect that probably won't happen until Snezhnaya considering Diluc's background. Though, if it turns out that Nicole worked with Khaenri'ah to "calculate" the location of the twins and bring them to Teyvat, then I certainly wouldn't be surprise.
I hope this means in the future when we get that Mondstadt expansion (I forget the name at the moment of the area - Mona mentioned it) that we get more elaboration of the Hexenzirkel and maybe tie in more characters that have been a little neglected from early story!
Plus with Nicole in connection to Diluc, she might have hinted something about Kaeya? I mean Diluc doesn't mind Kaeya's company at all even though in the head cannon of everyone that he hated his brother but that's not true, the one who hated Kaeya is Kaeya himself. He can't seem to return to Dawn Winery for good due to the "betrayal" he did when they are kids.
DAMN ASHIKAI I GOT CHILLS THROUGHOUT!! Because the connections in this theory is more visible than in the other theories, like, readily visible visible. DANG. Uhuuu thank you for this video!! Also, since you've mentioned, it's been explained Diluc is called the Uncrowned King because his house is the biggest player in Mond's biggest industry (the wine industry). If he makes changes to his business, the whole country will be affected.
Something I like about your videos is that I learn about stuff in the real world. Like Nike the sports brand company was totally named Nike because of that Victory meaning.
kinda just realized that that's at least four children/protegees of the hexenzirkkel located in Mondstadt: Albedo, Klee, Mona, and if the theory is right, Diluc. Kinda makes you wonder why they're all made to/have been congregating in Mond in the first place
![[4.3] What's the deal with Zhongli? - A Genshin Impact Theory](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LXb-oJYQF7I/mqdefault.jpg)
![[4.3] What's the deal with Zhongli? - A Genshin Impact Theory](/img/tr.png)
![[3.5] A First Look at the Hexenzirkel - Genshin Impact Lore & Theory](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/J4DMk5M3MP8/mqdefault.jpg)
![[4.6] The Secret Khaenri'ahn Bloodline - A Genshin Impact Theory](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/o1C0_p98Zhs/mqdefault.jpg)
![[4.1] The Truth About Furina Is Found In Childe - A Genshin Impact Theory](/img/n.gif)
**NOTES & CORRECTIONS**
- A brand new YT theorist made a video on Kaeya which has some nice overlap with this theory! I only found it after the video was finished, otherwise I would have given it a proper shoutout, because they made some really awesome connections!! th-cam.com/video/ajNxiVgD13s/w-d-xo.html
- The person who mentioned the owl-domain tablet thing first was apparently a friend of mine, Kitkat! They saw the video and went "WAIT THAT WAS ME!" Haha~
I thought by the tower shrouded in mist you were talking about stormterror's lair which sounded like a perfect fit in it of itself
I thought it was two peacocks. Didn't see the owl.
Hi, thanks for the shoutout! Just a quick observation about the domain mural: I think it might portray some kind of chariot. Those winged things look like two giant birds facing each other. Maybe peacocks or swans. If you look closely, there are a two thin metal strips over their "heads", which would be the reigns.
My guess is it's pulling the Triquetra? There is a Seelie holding two laurel branches, which form a wreath around the Triquetra. The Triquetra shoots an arrow/spear towards (what I assume) the Primordial One. If we go by your Athena theme and squint a little, maybe the Triquetra acts as a shield she is holding.
Actually, what's odd is that the 8-pointed star on the door to Khaenri'ah is also shooting out a (red) arrow from the northest point of the star...🤷♀️
@@yaeggravateI see a dragon face in the domain tablet it's the blue parts
Idk if I see an owl at the end, but the bottom half DOES look like wings to me, even before you made the suggestion of being an owl. That being said, they look a bit more bug-like to me, rather than feathery.
Poor diluc, his brothers a khaenrian spy, his dad was possibly a harbinger, AND hes been raised to fit some lady's definition of a ruler, bro can't catch a break fr 😭
That's why he's one of the weird grown-ups :|
And his familiar is a little girl that wants to destroy the wine industry
Kaeya being an actual spy is not a substantiated claim anymore. It’s been debunked by Kaeya himself. Kaeya says he doesn’t know why he was left in Mondstadt; he originally thought it was to be a saboteur of some sort, but now that he is older, he’s unsure about this. He goes on to posit the theory that perhaps it was simply so he could have a good life. Which confirms he has never had contact with his father since he was left there AND clarifies that there was never a discussion as to why it was happening. There was no insidious plan of action shared with him and no directions given to him. He was simply left there and told he was their last hope.
This, when viewed under this lens, does sound like the somber goodbye of a loving parent. If your father was going to leave you, the last non-cursed son of an ancient bloodline, in the care of someone else in order to keep you safe from your family’s hideous lineage and inherent danger of said history, they might say you are the last hope for your country- in that you are the last remnant of it able to continue the bloodline without the curse.
At this point I anticipate Ashikai videos more than Special Program. When I'm playing the story, I can't wait to hear what you'll have to say about certain parts. Your videos have become an absolutely integral part of what I love so much about Genshin.
Same here! Ashikai is what turned me into a lore player and have learned so much about our world in the process
I always say; if Genshin had an actual academy, having Genshin historians as professors would have me making top marks left and right
@@Counting_Bubbles Oh my gosh same! I was honestly just thinking about a "scholarly" approach to understanding all of this 😅 involving note taking and record-keeping. The lore is now my absolute favorite part because of Ashikai.
absolutely same! i play through the quests awaiting what ashikai has to say about certain things. and refresh her page all the time looking for new vids. it's helped me learn so much about both genshin and earth history tbh. reason i am a lore player
ashikai has breathed entirely new life into the game for me!
Ashikai brought me back into genshin after abandoning the game after 1.5.
One of her videos randomly plopped into my algorthymn and I gave it a shot because I was bored. The rest is history... :D
ashikai: this is about nicole and the hexenzirkel
also ashikai: now how can i add deshret to this
I find it fascinating how Fate in Genshin works like computer code, with Teyvat being the Hardware and Fate being the Software that keeps everything within the will of the programmer (Celestia):
- Irminsul would be the central server that collects and processes information, with Nahida and before her [REDACTED] being the administrators.
- The Abyss is a virus that corrodes the system
- Ley lines are the circuit that keeps energy and information in circulation within the system
- Descenders are external entities that exist outside the limits of the system and are capable of interfering with it (The Traveler's interference was partly the reason the Prophecy was avoided)
That's a great analogy. I personally think that the virus would be forbidden knowledge specifically, while the Abyss is like the outside of the closed network of Teyvat.
Bro keep cooking
-The eggshell separating teyvat from the universe is the computer case
-Teyvat is the computer running, visualized on the screen, which is the fake sky
-The Abyss is a computer virus and abyssal power is just Quanta and as such the room where the computer is
-The Primordial One is just the computer user
-Irminsul is the CPU, ley lines are the circuits and all Irminsul saves from Teyvat history is stored on a hard drive
-Primordial One created Teyvat with the graphics card
-Dragon soveriegns and before the PO came were just the motherboard
@@vergiltasev7108 Is there a massive difference between the Abyss and Forbidden Knowledge.. maybe, I am not sure, they're often described interchangeably, as an element, rather than the Abyss Order, I mean.
@@AllMightyKingBowser now THIS is cooking 😂😂😂
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanksforbidden knowledge is power/knowledge that came from the abyss
Also when you talked about the essay “the prince” and how Nicole might want to shape Diluc in that image as a leader I immediately thought about that one weird statement in Dilucs 5 star outfit: “On silent nights, the edge hidden under the velvet glove of the noble princeling will be unsheathed to counter any threat”. Here Diluc is described as a sort of prince and it’s also pretty weird that this 5star outfit came out the same patch as the second golden apple archipelago (2.8) where you drew the connections with Monas Domain etc.
And he's the uncrowned king of mondstadt
I think it’s important to point out that Arthurian legends as we know them today are not the original version of the story, they have been written by Norman/English scribes post Norman conquest. Original story has it’s roots at the time when Anglo-Saxon people were settling the island and Anglo-Saxons are culturally Germanic
i thought the same!! when she was putting the idea down going "i know mondstadt is mostly germanic but..." i was trying not to scream but arthurian tales ARE germanic, theres a reason why english is a germanic language and with the era they pull from its honestly quite a relevant comparison of cultures thinking of all the germanic tribes and such
Omg yeah you’re right!
Actually, the 'original' stories (to the extent they exist) are pre-anglo-saxon, being closely tied to Welsh mythology. But that's just one part of the mythos. Most of the Arturian mythology we know today has French origins. (Chretien de Troyes creates Lancelot and the grail quest).
I cannot wait for the first physical appearances of the hexenzirkel witches
They better have some crazy drip
@@CristianmrWuno fr they better have some of the prettiest jaw dropping designs tbh
@@CristianmrWuno fingers crossed they're not boring honkai clones...
This comment made me realize that Skirk wasn't a witch
@@hmmmooops LMAO FR THO (skirk’s design kinda disappointed me tbh, i fell in love with her concept designs and then we ended up with a kinda cheap looking hsr knockoff)
Daaamn I can't wait for this one. Alice is legit my most anticipated character since Klee's first banner, so any information relating to her is gold.
Gold ? Gold ?? Gold ???
GOLD? RHINEDOTTIR!?
i see what you did there
Rhinedottir?
well played sir
Don't forget that Alice might have been Eris from Enkanomiya, especially considering her association with the Golden Apple Archipelago, considering that Eris was the Greek Goddess of Discord who caused the Trojan War with a Golden Apple.
Yeah this is great because this fits even further into this insane theory that I have, about the Witches being celestial beings related to the 4 shades the Moon Sisters and Khaenri'ah but it's pretty tenuous and whilst there are multiple links none of them are conclusive.
if alice was in enka and was a god who has somehow lived since the unified civilization times, it definitely makes her so much more suspicious. i wonder if her longevity and her age could mean that she is a seelie, especially since enkanomiya sank around the time seelies began to wither away. if the goddess of flowers could survive after the seelies its not unreasonable that others survived. elf ears also totally seem like a seelie/vishap thing to have lol
@@sthezh in myth arn't elfs and seelie both fae?
@@Xx_Oleander_xX yeah there’s a lot of overlap, it’s looking very suspect
@@sthezhDon't seelies have hornes ? Or it's also just an headress like the one Nilou wear
I always found it weird how Diluc's birthday is April 30th. I might be wrong, but iirc, Walpurgis Night, which is a night heavily linked to witches (some sources I've read contradicted each other tho on if it was a night of sabbat for witches, or if it was a night against witchcraft), takes place the night of April 30th. Maybe it's just a coincidence but I find it funny. Or maybe I am totally wrong and I didn't do my research correctly.
That is so interesting omg. I will definitely read into that
Bro is a witcher
i thought that said waluigi 💀
Diluc was born in April 30th which is when walpurgisnacht is celebrated and it means "the day when the witches gather" or something like that, maybe it's a coincidence or maybe it's not
Diluc of Rivia.
Didn't expect speculators on Diluc's character here. Interesting idea regarding Nicole possibly grooming him to be the "perfect prince".
Since he maintains certain public image, but does a lot of dirty work covertly.
And the uncrowned king thing, worth noting that he's a successor to one of Mondstad's founding families
At this point, I don't even care if these theories are hits or misses. Anything you put out that has actual real-world historical accuracy is always a gem and super fun to learn about. We had Witches, we had Diluc, we had Kaeya, we had Khaenri'ah, we had Sumeru, we had Greek Goddesses AND even another trip back to the GAA. This was truly facinating ❤ Thank you for all your hard work chugging that brain juice bc mine is slowly fizzling out
I think Hexenzirkel is a group of witches that want to create/raise a perfect "Prince" who can overthrow Celestia's rule and establish a new world order. Rhinedottir tried this with her semi human in Albedo or the "Chalk Prince" but we don't know if she has succeeded or not. Nicole is trying the same but with pure human who is ready to do necessary evil in Diluc or the "Night Prince". And Mona's master tried the otherworldly experiment by summoning stars (the travelers) from beyond Tevyat. Who knows Tsaritsa is also being directed by some other witch for the same purpose? Same goes for Abyss Order too("The Sinner" sounds like a perfect alias for a witch as we already know Rhinedottir is also a sinner). Heck what about Focalors? I don't think she came up with such a brilliant idea by herself while she was underwater.
The reasons why I think it was Mona's master who summoned the travelers are a)they deal with fate and starry stuff and b) Only Scaramouche mentions that our arrival was pre calculated. He also deals with the starry stuff and fate and was the first one to point out that sky is fake.
However there was no intention to summon two stars, hence Mona's master made us sleep in the Starfell Valley(where we start the game, and its the area that has Starsnatch Cliff and Cider Lake). Our sibling went through the whole process of becoming the "prince/princess" but somehow failed. Instead sibling became corrupted instead and joined the opposite forces. Hence now they wake us up and start the whole process again. Its interesting to note that when we first wake up, we wandered around aimlessly until we fished out Paimon. And guess what? Paimon is our "guide", and is the being that initiated our adventures across Tevyat. And where do we meet Paimon? Starsnatch Cliff. Where does she takes us? To the North, towards the Monstadt City. In short Nicole and Mona's master have been working in tandem to guide us to become the next "Prince" ever since the game started. Because how come when we requested for Mona's master help but Nicole answered instead?
wow! this!
Interesting
Add to this the Sal Vindagnyr / Dragonspine princess who was capable of prophecy (aided by Barbeloth/Mona's master?) but failed to overcome/prevent the Divine Nail
Ohhhhh…. wait, now doesn’t this sound familiar? Is this not the story told to us every patch during the BATTLE PASS CUTSCENE???
@@orian1642 Yup that too! Also the story is narrated by Venti, and guess who we meet when Paimon leads us to Monstadt City?Venti and Dvalin.He is also the only known archon who is on amiable terms with the Hexenzirkel. Heck the whole Hexenzirkel meeting place is in Monstadt. Who knows Klee might be the contender representing Alice? That is why Alice left her in the city to get familiar with humans and even holds an authority by becoming a Knight of Favonius. She is young sure, immature too but she is already a genius compared to kids of her age.
I always wonder why did the hexenzirkel comply easily with venti (or so it seemed). What was the bargaining chip for those powerful women to call off their challenge to him. Maybe they made a some sort of agreement? What if the witches' goal was to challenge celestia through the archons but venti actually has intentions aligned with them, to free people from the heavenly principles. They became affiliates since that day and planned another tactics.
Maybe that's why venti's statue of the 7 description tells us about it waiting for a noble soul to arrive (as the said noble souls were being summoned by the universitas magistrorum). Heh. I cant wait for mondstadt expansion and venti's 2nd story quest.
I will do anything to have a tea party with Venti 🥐☕️
given that dvalin was confirmed as a vishap, mondstat is the gateway to celestia and pretty closely resembles a key, i think venti has probably already been planning to rebel against celestia. it would also explain why he didn’t try to get his gnosis back (i know other archons weren’t upset, but they willingly gave it away but venti had his stolen), and we will probably learn more during his second story quest.
venti is a part of istaroth, which probably means his somewhat omnipotent knowledge of past and future is something he could inform the hexenzirkle of. the three moon sisters were either driven away or killed, and the morningstars are presumably the siblings. so, i think most beings from celestia like the shades, seelies, sprites like venti would totally rebel against celestia because we’ve already seen it in the goddess of flowers, and his close ties with what is probably the anemo soverign means that he knows possibly even more than the hexenzirkle does in some areas.
Venti is super sus overall with his "i know all the songs of the past, the present and the future" and his even more sus voice line about furina. I already speculated that he might be a visionary himself and let his gnosis be taken
@@jonnypma oh god that’s such a great voice line, i think it would be really interesting because fontaine has been the first nation to destroy its heavenly throne, which is kinda the beginning of the end for celestia. furina being the only mortal archon but also important to the overarching story of teyvat reminds me of venti’s friend, despite them both being mortal they still managed to seemingly defy fate so it makes sense if venti is aware of how impressive furina is regardless of her being a human
idk i have the feeling the whole celestia thing will be a big plot twist. if the twins were summoned to teyvat why would celestia hinder us from leaving? it would be in the interest of the ones who summoned us to stay in teyvat
DILUC REALLY NEEDS TO COME BACK MAN HE GOT SO MUCH GOING ON FOR HIM😭😭
The lore behind Diluc has always been one of my favourites. Seeing him come up in all these theories really gives me the best kind of brain rot.
i think hoyo was genuinely playing the long game with mondstat and liyue’s story, the amount of information that can be related back to old events and info that previously seemed irrelevant (kaeya’s voicelines about his grandfather, the prince thing) and i love how the game consistently revisits old ground to show how it connects back to the overall story of teyvat.
and now, we’re getting chenyu vale which will probably give us a lot more context about liyue’s past. it’s genuinely great writing and it makes it really rewarding to be invested in the lore too
I think the connection with The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli explains a part of the Traveller's personality. In many of the world quests, when faced with an enemy like the fatui, there is always a clear dialogue choice wherein the traveller mercilessly kills the enemy for their crimes; merciless like the ideal prince. Although this choice is left onto the player on whether to spare or kill, the fact that the choice itself exists is significant, as in many tales the hero is supposed to never act immorally. I know this theory focuses on Diluc as the Prince, but taking into account Kaeya, they could be mirroring the traveller and their sibling as well.
It is most likely to be Diluc, in addition to what she said in the video there are more signs of Diluc with the Witches, Alice has had her eye on Diluc since he was young, the carpet in his mansion also has symbols from Nicole's chicara, his skin makes reference to him being the prince of mondatadt, he is called the king without a crown and his birthday is linked to Halloween
Furthermore, in Diluc's house there is a statue decorated with an owl, the interaction speech is suspicious to say the least.
If any of you are curious about the inscription @@Antony_o_goat mentioned on the owl statue, I’ll leave it below.
“O watcher of the night, forget not the splendor of the dawn. O ye who contend with evildoers, sway not from the path of righteousness.”
Diluc being the only character that has a 5 star skin also a huge hint how special he is
Is there a reason why you didn’t mention the theory that Nicole could be Diluc’s mother? I personally believe it’s probably correct but even if it isn’t and Nicole is just his mentor means that we now have 4 playable children/students of the hexenzirkel. Albedo is gold’s son/creation, Klee is Alice’s daughter, Mona is B’s student, and diluc is Nicole’s student/avatar/possible son/doesn’t matter.
Yeah! It's real off since Nicole being Diluc's mother was like the TOP theory after 3.5 came out! and it'd make SO much sense, I'm wondering why she didn't go over it?
oh and the "probing mother" thing would ALSO make more sense!
@@marismoments39
Maybe because in this Theory she was assosiating Nicole with a concept or a non human voice rather than a human, so it would be a mess to try a decipher how Diluc came to be? Or idk maybe she though it was explored enough
@@kctoygacha5069 oh, that's true! Diluc is obviously a regular human, so that makes sense
When you related Nicole to the Goddess Nike, I immediately thought of Diluc's eagle or even Vennessa. In Greek art, the goddess Nike is often depicted with an eagle on her side. Even Athena is associated with eagles.
I was thinking about the shoe ngl
Am I the only one who just wants her to do an entire history lesson 😂
"We don't talk about the Hexenzirkel, we kinda just ignore them"
Miss Ashikai, the Hexenzirkel lives rent-free in my mind ever since I read Before Sun and Moon.
Omg when you mentioned how Owl could be a representative of Nicole and related it to Diluc I thought you'd definitely mention the small owl statue right beside the staircase! It has an interesting dialogue as well, talking about the "owl" of Dragonspine. This has been a small theory/headcanon of mine since I saw the teapot set of Nicole.
I remember seeing a post on HoYoLAB saying that there’s a theory that Nicole is actually Diluc’s mom. Or we’ll at least his mom was a witch. So Nicole watching over Diluc and helping him out actually makes sense if you believe that she’s our favorite redhead’s mother.
So basically everyone's successors are in Mondstadt (besides ivanovna's)
Alice - Klee
Rhinedottir - Albedo
Barbeloth - Mona
Andersdotter - Lisa (theory)
Nicole - Diluc (theory)
What are they plotting 😩
So the connection between witches and cats is that brewing beer requires grain, which would attract mice and necessitate the keeping of a cat, gotcha.
the hexenzirkle (as in witches in a circle as a literal translation from german) might also be referring to the german folklore of witches meeting annually up on a famous hill called „Blocksberg“(the genshin counterpart being the starsnatcher cliff), where they would „dance around in a circle“ but I believe somebody else already pointed this out, it just became apparent to me once again whilst talking about their preferred location for their little tea party
So you mean to say that these powerful beings gather and dance around on *Starsnatch* Cliff, which just so happens to overlook the beach that the Traveler wakes up on? 🤔
I think in the last Fountain Archon quest, when Mona tried to contact her Master, it was Nicole's intervention that prevented her from succeeding. And also, remember: Mona tried to contact her Master, and Nicole came almost immediately after that to the Traveler. (SUS)
Nicole doesn't just guide people; she literally guides fate. Come to think of it: she might be a strategist, or rather, a chess player as some would say....
Another interesting fact is that the fire place in the dawn winery (which is also only found there) has these same patterns like Dilucs jacket or the teacup. We can craft this fire place for the teacup and it’s description tells us that it is styled after those from the northern lands. Now in Dilucs character story it is specifically stated that the third party observer (who rescued diluc from the harbingers) also hails from the north. This little detail further deepens the connection to Nicole as well.
Yoo that's sick!
The whole thing with Diluc being the uncrowned king of Monstadt made me wonder something. What if we are looking at him the wrong way and he's not meant to be a king of Monstadt but where many other red heads are known to come from...Natlan. I mean, I know his family clearly has been in Monstadt for awhile now, but for how far back? And it's not like people from Natlan hadn't ended up in Monstadt before, I mean we already had Vanessa and her people from there. And I keep hearing about a this idea of a possible reason for war in Natlan to be over succession...most likely over the throne of the Archon. Plus Diluc's vision is Pyro 🤷♂️...so yeah, food for thought. Either that, or Diluc's existence is maybe just something that mirrors what is going on in Natlan, like maybe we will see a similar story in Natlan that is very similar to what Diluc went through with his dad. AND Kaeya might even come into play because he's basically a heir as well, just to a different nation. I almost wonder if we will get a war in Natlan over the Archon throne from two "siblings" that are not blood related, like Diluc and Kaeya.
We saw a Gunnhildr and we believe a Ravingder (can’t spell the names rip) in the cut scene of the revolution against Decarabian which took place thousands of years ago sooo
Albedo - Kreideprinz - Chalk "Prince". Another "prince" of sorts is in Mondstadt. Kinda weird 🤔
I notice how the Witches and Khaenri'an's leave traces of themselves in the current generation of Mondstat:
Gold = Albedo
Barbeloth = Mona
Alice = Klee
Nicole = Diluc
I have theories for:
Andersdotter M = Lisa Minci
Surtalogi = Kaeya Alberich
But these need more time in the pot/oven.
If Diluc is Nicole/Athena Nike's champion , maybe Kreideprinz is Rhinedottir/Gold's champion
Maybe the Hexenzirkel were playing Fate Grand Order all along
not only is Niclole's pattern on Diluc's coat but also the fire place at the Dawn Winary (14:14). So she may be someone closer (his mother?) and may not have just been watching him at that time when he was younger hehe
I’m amazed at every single Ashikai video but I’m doubly amazed by the commenters pointing out EVEN MORE connections Ashikai may have missed 😭 you guys are too smart
The talk about Fate and it's unchangeability/defiance etc etc reminds me of (spoilers for Kaeya's hangout quest)
The first ending in his hangout where we do the whole play thingy in Sumeru and it's all about going off script and "changing the fate" of the prince. And then later in the dialog when it's pretty clear that Kaeya wasn't simply acting there, he even makes that one comment about "I admire people who go against Fate and do what they want" or something along those lines, I'll need to recheck. Pretty nifty little detail/foreshadow methinks
Really love the sudden importance of the Starsnatch cliff in lore, kinda find it funny now that it conveniently overlooks where the Traveller first wakes up. You know, the star they snatched.
I have to point out in terms of the domain design of Midsummer courtyard, that it is not the only domain with that design, in fact at early game 5 other domains are designed the same way: Valley of Rememberance, Ridge Watch, Hidden Palace of Zhou Formula, Domain of Guyun and the Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern. Not to say that the direct reference to Sommernachtgarten in the Midsummer Courtyard isn't sus, but just pointing it out, I have actually gone inside all domains in genshin with charlotte to take pictures of them, it's very VERY fun to look at all details
man, everytime i watch an ashikai video, i'm always like, "how can i create a game that is so deep and secretively mysterious in it's lore, worldbuilding, and storytelling like genshin?"
i want to make a game that makes people like ashikai research the most obscure yet still intriguing historical tidbits of human history and attempt to connect the dots to solve my story before i even let the players get to the end of said story.
i wonder how i can do that effectively, and what is needed to do that.
3:59 Fun fact: The Mondstadt Library was formerly a bathhouse nobles of the ancient times used and was converted into a library by the Dawn Knight Ragnvindr after Vennessa's rebellion.
On the thought of avalon, a herxenzirkel tea party was also held on a hidden floating island near falcon coast. When fontaine was released i was thinking what if the 7 nations went to war with each other. Surely monstadt will be the weakest (on paper at least) but monstadt's ties to the cataclysm is so deep rooted that it cant be unnoticed. Rhinedottir was initially the "reason" for the cataclysm which is ironic since she was also a member of the herxenzirkel and as we know these witches dont settle problems with wars. And as well know even though fontaine and sumeru are powerhouses of nations, they were still devastated by the cataclysm heavily. Monstadt however stood tall and strong even if their theme is medieval. I know one day we will know, why monstadt is the nation that the traveller's story started and how mondstadt is indeed the most powerful nation in all of teyvat coz of its ties with multiple herxenzirkel members. All of these made me believe that, Varka's expedition, as many people believe to be an expedition to kanreiah is not what it seems. Having Alice on that expedition team only leads me to believe that they are either exploring the dark sea or better yet they are "up there" exploring the "deserted" island up in the sky which we believe to be celestia but then again it perplexes me as to why lisa, a mage considered to be a powerful mage doesnt want to be associated with the witche's coven in any way shape or form.
the editing gets better and better It's amazing. The best Genshin Channel
The production quality of the visual part of the video was amaizing. Qudos to the editor(s).
I love your videos, both the solid theories and the rabbit holes (of neverending circles of familarity). Thank you for sharing with us and inspiring so many of us to be more skeptical and speculative concerning the lore. You've made this game infinitely more entertaining.
My personal theory was that Nicole was a previous God of Wisdom from a previous samsara circle, Not necessarily a Dendro Archon, just a God of Wisdom.
The idea is that she deleted herself from Irminsul when she realized that true knowledge is fate itself, as Nahida puts it. So in an attempt to relieve herself from her duty, Nicole tampered with the tree in order to pursue this higher form of knowledge, but unbeknownst to her, a person cannot erase themselves from Irminsul, someone else must do it for them, so she imparted this to her successor, Most likely the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, which in turn perform the process the right way by creating Nahida to take her place and finish the job. This is why Nicole still exists but there's no record of her doings. My only evidences are her dialogues, of course, but also, her appearance, right after a quest all about someone erasing one self from existence. Nicole has obvious connections to irminsul, so the idea that she as a former keeper of the tree is something I considered for some time.
Also, Nahida and Nicole both start with the letter N and have 6 letters.
Now I wonder about the intentions of the hexenzirkel, because as far as we know, they're not good people. Alice is a psycho, creating contraptions of Hillichurls and launching them from catapults just to see what happens, she blew up a portion of Decarabian's tower and messed up an entire island ecosystem just to create a temporary playground for her Daughter. Gold created city destroying Kaiju that wrecked havoc during the cataclysm and while Mona does tend to exaggerate, the way she talks about Barabeloth doesn't paint a nice picture of her, Mona ain't the nicest person out there but the girl takes every opportunity to insult the Old Hag. All this plus the fact that, from her known successors, Klee and Albedo both have some extreme destructive tendencies. Klee is played for comedy, but Albedo takes his own threat to Mondstadt quite serious. Obviously we don't know much about the rest of the group, but if "you are the company that you keep", then I don't think the circle will be as benevolent as we might think.
Looking forward to meeting Klee’s mom, Alice. She travels the universe and perhaps is the one who heavenly summoned the Travelers to Teyvat. She seems to be open to giving all sorts of information about the others on the circle.
Ahhh what a great video! This just made me think more about Diluc and his connections to the hexenzirkel now… For instance, I wonder if there is any important significance to the owl you can interact with in the Dawn winery mansion? The one that says, "O watcher of the night, forget not the splendor of the dawn,” and “O ye who contend with evildoers, sway not from the path of righteousness."
Also- and this isn’t my discovery, I just can’t find the Twitter post where I saw this, so I’m sorry that I can’t credit atm- I saw someone on Twitter point out that the flowers on Diluc’s belt and jacket could perhaps be olive flowers bc they’re four pointed. Another connection to Athena perhaps?
They ALSO pointed out that the patten on Diluc’s tie looks like the sigil of Lucifer.
If you check out Diluc’s outfit further you’ll notice he also has four pointed stars littered throughout it. The ones on his back even glow red in the dark. In the manga he’s even wearing a silver pin with an 8 pointed star on his left lapel in one of the panels, and there is a cover image (also in the manga) where Diluc is wearing a white outfit. In there you can see that the gloves he is wearing have a four pointed star on the back of the hand, AND the pin he’s wearing on his left lapel also has small four pointed stars hanging off it.
Also kind of tangential but the patterns on the cuffs of his coat kind of resemble owls haha. On the topic of owls, I do wonder if the wings of concealing snow have anything to do with him..
Great video as always! This video had me so excited I just had to comment for the first time 💕💕
We desperatly need a second story quest for Kaeya. Or hopefully we'll see more of him in the upcoming dainslief quest. Last time he showed up we ended up having more questions than answers especially with the deleted voicelines of kaeya saying his dad left him in monstadt to "save him"
with the WHAT
Not save him, save them
Damn I got so excited then it said 18hrs😢
Me too Mahn... Guess we'll have to wait
lol i thought you got excited when you thought the vid is 18 hours long 🥴
Get used to it lol
I was like “I clicked the video what happened?” Oh. 16hrs… 😂
FINALLY a solid theory for why Kaeya was left at the Dawn Winery of all places! 😂
A thought- what if Dainsleif was Nicole's previous "Diluc" then? He's called the bough keeper and it's assumed that means something to do with Irminsul but what if it's more like Nicole is the landscape designer and he was the gardener, cutting branches (of fate?) according to her wishes while she guides other ones. Our Sibling references a betrayal he committed/failure in duty, it would be an interesting tie-in if it was a task Nicole set for him that he either DID or DIDN'T see through. Great opportunity to set up some of those morals vs leadership dilemmas!
Ah finally! I was waiting for you to make a connection between Nicole and Diluc for quite a long time now. Even the design on the carpet at the dining room is exactly like Diluc's coat and the Tea cup on the table and by the fire place and Hexenzirkel meeting place. I won't be surprised if Nicole was Diluc's mom and could make him live longer. As a Diluc main I am so happy with what you shared here. Thank you!!!
Just an interesting tidbit.. Comets typically have low albedo, meaning that while they appear bright in the sky, they are in fact almost pitch black in their composition. This could explain the black star motif we see around Khaenri'ah.
Also Paimon's hairclip .
The parallel between diluc and an owl made me think about kaeya's voice line "interesting things" and the way it feels like he's talking about diluc omgg
When I heard about the uncrowned king of monstadt bit, I thought "oh, maybe it's because he heads Monstadt's alcoholic industry, but himself doesnxt like imbibing. He's got the magic keys to the city, aka the heart of the people in his hands, but tosses it in a drawer somewhere to sip apple juice."
Grape juice lol
thank you for this delicious brainrot ❤️
never thought I would be connecting nicole to diluc and kaeya yet here we are
you said that Nicole might have similar power to the traveler where Irminsul don't affect her memories but what if she's in another realm I noticed when Skirk mentioned she doesn't want to be in real world
Skirk mentioned she dosn't wish to return to the surface, in preference for what ever lies beyond the microcosm of Teyvat's bubble, which probably, those inside refer to as the Abyss. Also, I'd wager that the Abyss name was infact put in place by Celestia in order to portray everything from the outside as bad and evil.
Holy shit, not only a mind blowing theory but a pretty nice editing too!
This one is quite visibly pleasant for some reason, the editing kinda scratched a part of my brain that I did not realized was itching until finally you came and fixed it, thank you very Ashikai, this was wonderful
the travellers literally have a star with an elongated side depicting a sword in their constellation. you probably forgot to mention that parallel as well so putting this here.
Fun Point about Arthurian Legends, while it was certainly expanded upon and has been tied to Britain for centres, we originally stole the bulk of it from what would become France and Germany.
Another great exploration on Genshin Lore, and I'm glad to see the Hexenzirkel feature more in the plot.
9:35 this makes me think to diluc's voice line about mona, and how he "sees no need for the harvest forecasts of astrologers"
interesting
4:05 could this mean Nicole is dilucs mom? after all in his character story it only says things about his dad so we don't know who his mother is. and the tea sets colors are pretty similar to his clothing wi(t)ch we have seen in another mother-child situation before with ganyu, shenhe an xianyun.
The editing is so good
Its diferent in a good way
Good job to whoever edited your vid, ashikai :D
Sorry for the bad english
Not a native 💀
so eehhh you said the Alberichs kinda split into two sides, one with Anfortas and one with Clothar?
Well... in IRL history, there was one Frankish Merovingian king named Chlothar IV that was basically planted there by Charles Martel, before Martel took over kingship of the Frankish Kingdom in 718. Martel was NOT of Royal blood but his family were MARSHALS AND STEWARDS.
Now what's interesting about Charles Martel is: 1) He's Charlemagne's grandfather; 2) his bloodline and his *brother's* bloodline are named differently. Charles Martel's bloodline is known as the Carolingians, while his brother's, Childebrand I's, bloodline, was known as the *NIBELUNGIDS.*
So IRL we have Charles Martel who was not of Royal descent, used a Merovingian Frank who WAS of royal descent named Clothar for his own gains, eventually took over power and founded his own new dynasty of which his grandson Charlemagne reunited the Frankish realms and created the Frankish (Holy Roman) Empire. And he had a brother whose lineage went down into obscurity which was named 'Nibelungids' after his son Nibelung.
Meanwhile in Genshin we have Anfortas Alberich who took over the throne from Irmin and led Khaenri'ahns as good as possible out of the Cataclysm, then lost his left eye during the fighting. We also know that Kaeya allegedly 'inherited his eyepatch from his grandfather'. So if Anfortas is meant to mirror Charles Martel, then Kaeya would mirror... *CHARLEMAGNE.*
then we have Clothar and Caribert, who mirror the Nibelungids line from Martel's brother, as they went fully into the Abyssal power that the Dragon King Nibelung also searched for and used against Celestia.
IT LINES UP TOO PERFECTLY FOR A COINCIDENCE.
also, if the Hexenzirkel formed after the Cataclysm from the leftovers of a Khaenri'ahn 'University', then it should've happened almost DIRECTLY after the Cataclysm because from the 3.5 Windblume event we know that the Hexenzirkel *challenged Venti.* We also know that Venti went back to sleep pretty soon after the Cataclysm.
I screamed for a sec. I’ve been checking back every day!!! Your content makes me happy and I love. It 🎉🎉❤ glad ur taking time to get all this info sorted out and stuff- it’s awesome.
Diluc looking good in the thumbnail!!!
Hoyo needs to reveal the hexenzikel already… they been teasing them for a while and I’m going crazy 😭
I love when a theory blows my mind and I just sit there shocked as things come together
Sorry to go off topic and hark on this but, 6:50 I **STILL** believe our siblings' fate was stolen from them either by Dain himself or that The Sinner we met in our siblings' memories. Either we both had fates that could change the world, or each sibling had 1/2 of the whole fate. I don't have any concrete evidence but them being recorded into the Irminsul's memory despite being from outer space is SUS as fk.
24:29 food for thought regarding the name 深秘院！
深 shēn means deep, as stated. but one could also make a connection to 深渊 shēn yuān, meaning abyss.
秘 mì means secret or private so not much elaboration here but the connection i wanted to make was:
院 yuàn that could mean courtyard but also an institution. like 学院 xué yuàn (lit. learning courtyard), being a lesser used word for school or an educational institution, thus reinforcing the connection with Universitas being University!
just a tiny observation of the connections in the translations, hope it was fun! :3
I was waiting for a video about Nicole! Interesting lore and possible mythological ties.
@Ashikai A) Charlemagne is considered the basis for Arthurian Legend and the founder of the HRE, a member state of the HRE went on to form Germany. There a loose connection.
B) I heard somewhere that 'king' used to mean something like 'he who gives out treasure', usually referring to a rulers ability to pay warriors. Maybe that has something to do with Diluc's title?
C) Also, on Diluc, he may be a reference to Lancelot (du Lac) as Lancelot was raised by the Lady of the Lake.... and du Lac is kinda similar to Diluc.
I am named after the King Arthur story and my name is Avalon, so I know the story well. I have always tried to find people who knew the background of the story but no one does. This is the first time I've ever seen someone mention the story and the island ( and slightly scared me when I heard my name) I'm so happy you made this connection, it's so cool.
Currently binge watching all of your theories because I'm hyperixating and doing my own research. Your takes are always so inspiring. I also love how you link where you got your information so I can read it too, and continue to spiral into the lore rabbit-hole.
Aaaaaa the witches have me in a chokehold actually aksbaiz I love the references to greek mythos, but that made me question this: if Diluc equals Athena, we can assume Kaeya equals Hera (because of the peacock), then the travelers are Venus who we relate to Aphrodite, Alice is Eris and there are golden apples... Who is Paris? Who is going to bring judgement and practically make the worst war in mythos?? (Honestly this is very crack but bear with me) And considering Childe's real name is Ajax and he was named after a hero, and there were two Ajax in mythology, Ajax the Great/Telamon who is implied to be Childe's inspiration, who had a brother named Teucer, and Ajax the Lesser/Oileus, if there isn't an equivalent of a Trojan War in Teyvat at the end of the game I will be a bit bummed lololol Thank you for the awesome video as always!! (The editing was soo good)
I’m not sure if they have the same power level as a descender, but they definitely are some of the most powerful people in Teyvat. I’m just glad they’re mostly on our side.
15:16 as a person who studied the origins of English I know that it has germanic roots. Which also falls in place perfectly when some things from countries that are English speaking like Great Britain for example, happen to have connections to things from germanic speaking countries. So the fact that Arthurian Legens as metions in that fragment are British they may as well have some connection to germany and germanic speaking countries. Over the years the English launguage has changed a lot yet some thing stayed simillar even if it is in small things. It has always been like this for example when a story is made and is passed down by words or written down over the course of centuries of years the story will change yet remain some what simillar. I dont know if this makes sense however just I am just expressing my personal toughts. I apologize for any mistakes in the comment English is not my first language.
Diluc also says about Mona "I see no need for the' harvest forecasts' of astrologers."
and while looking for this quote, there was an archived reddit thread pointing out how...*weird* it is that he has a line for Mona when they never seem to have interacted.
Welp this is another midnight premiere for me so I'll definitely be watching it when I wake up.
Ashikai cooking vids are so damn good. Thank you for all the research you are doing.
The moment you said the word comet I remembered what names The Traveler and Paimon each receive during the first fungi event in Sumeru.
When you talked about the University which Hexenzirkel witches might be part of, i wonder if Lisa might also be a graduate there. Lisa shares so many symbolism and traits with the witches, like the lamp, rose, fond of tea parties, sharing and pursuing knowledge (though she has some reservation in that). She’s also the one telling us about Golden Apple Archipelago (Haar Island).
In one of her voicelines, Lisa said she used to be a Grand Mage, but it was not a known position wether in Mondstadt or Sumeru. The only place i remember has position for mage is Khaenriah (Pierro was a royal mage), and Fischl’s imaginary kingdom (Mona was her mage). Since Mage seems similar enough with Witch, i wonder if Lisa was a Grand Mage in the same institution as Hexenzirkel witches, except she didn’t join their circle since she didn’t agree with their goal.
When talking about Lisa’s constellation, Mona said that to stop the flow of sand in her hourglass, one needs to put it on its side, which she thought making Lisa seems lazy. However, i think it might also mean that Lisa, whose life cut in half due to a curse, find a way to stop her time, preventing her to die. It also mean that Lisa might be way older than she looks, so her being in the same generation as Hexenzirkel didnt feel that weird. Well, she could be just their successors or descendants, but for some reason, with the way she’s hinting about her true power, i feel like she’s on par of them.
Also, it might be just me, but i cant help but feeling that she’s somewhat similar to Black Swan. Maybe because they’re both purple themed, mysterious, and work as book/knowledge keepers.
Check list for Ashikai experience:
✅ Deshret mentioned.
✅ Kaeya mentioned.
✅ "By the way, this character in fact is a reference to a god."
✅ "By the way, this character in fact is a reference to this historical figure."
✅ Mind blown.
This theory got me even more excited to when we finally meet more of the witches
I loved meeting Nicole during the Fontaine archon quest, even though it was brief and because I started playing later on in the game I haven't met Alice (if Hoyo could only make events replayable)
I was not expecting a quick history lesson of the origins of witches. Damn gurl. You always make the most informative, interesting and also mind blowing lore vids.
Thanks for this again.
the thumbnail is really nice
This theory makes a lot more sense given that the "wishes" is a form of "Summoning" much like how we got the twins. And the currency we use for those "summoning's" are crystalized primordial stars called "Primo-gems".
Nicole is a Selee, she says that "guiding" people is one of the things she cannot stop doing,
About the Golden Apple Archipelago, Alice said this in the 1.6 event: “In another world, there are tales of a wondrous island named after golden apples. Known by many names, it embodies the majestic vistas conjured by human fantasy.”
So Alice might have heard the tale of Avalon in another world, and named the Archipelago after that.
the new editing style looks great!!
It's somewhat funny as Diluc himself moreso is closer to Ares with his choice of bird companion and association with fire and his choice of weapon: a sword. The falcon was quite often used to represent the Birds of Ares with a more metallic flare. Not only that, but wolves by virtue of Rome would also be attributed to Mars when they adopted Ares (as Mars was split up to form both him and Jupiter with the Hellenistic deities).
And more interestingly, for a time, the sword Excalibur had a theory tying it back to the sword of Ares that was left in the possession of the Amazons, who were very closely associated with Ares due to their first queen Otrera being his only canonical wife in all Greek mythology, who was later slain by Dionysus and half of the Amazonians during the Indian War, while the other half and most importantly the few children of this marriage being protected by Artemis as Ares had been distracted by his mother summoning him, which eventually lead to him fathering half of the Amazons via a nymph (why Amazonians tend to be considered superhuman and often of one generation in some media).
And interestingly, while Athena would be responsible for a lot of Ares' kids deaths, she was also typically the only one to speak and consider him an equal (again, you can't have one aspect pof war without the other). So much so, that a lot of witch-esque practices aren't solely from Hecate. Dragon Bones in particular are a result of Athena guiding a hero to use a slain dragon's bones for a power, which said dragon was in fact Ares' son. Ares did want to kill him, but Athena actually managed to broker a deal. And funny enough, Ares was often the next god in place to deal with any goddess after Hermes to relay messages to: yes, the god of war himself, was the next god on decent status with goddesses to relay messages and the like.
And funny enough, Arthur does have a lot of connections to Rome (one being why he wasn't present when Mordred took over Camelot), the big one is actually Guinevere herself. She was part Roman, which loops back to all Romans being descendants of Mars. And fun fact: Nike actually is reference in some circumstances as a child of Ares, who serves Athena. Other times it's Nyx. Which actually don't contradict as surprisingly Ares of the Olympians was rather on good terms with justice, death, and magic as again besides Hecate & Hades, Ares was the next god you'd find associated with dogs. That and the few tales you can find that note this. And well, Ares actual job of protecting Olympus (this is in part to explain why he wasn't a god of a city directly, beyond Greeks such as Athens not being fans of him).
Though outside Greece, Ares was oddly applied beyond war itself, so much like his sister: he's an odd deity as we relatively don't have much left beyond weird disconnected events that piece together a jarring image.
This is amazing
It’s crazy we always forget about them when Alice herself is responsible for every single summer event we’ve had
When you talk about the Landscape Zodiac - made me think of how all the waypoints and characters constellations line up perfectly for each region :D
This was definitely a lovely video, and I especially like to provide some "good job" to your editor for the very good edits made in this video.
I think we can safely say that there is at least some connection between the Hexenzerkiel and Diluc when the evidence is blatant with the tea pot and cup in his manor (and with the fireplace too as one comment in this video reminded me of). Definitely interested to see if they decide to develop Diluc's relationship with the witches in the future, though I suspect that probably won't happen until Snezhnaya considering Diluc's background.
Though, if it turns out that Nicole worked with Khaenri'ah to "calculate" the location of the twins and bring them to Teyvat, then I certainly wouldn't be surprise.
As always, your video is enjoyable to watch! Thank you ashikai!
I hope this means in the future when we get that Mondstadt expansion (I forget the name at the moment of the area - Mona mentioned it) that we get more elaboration of the Hexenzirkel and maybe tie in more characters that have been a little neglected from early story!
Dornman Port?
Plus with Nicole in connection to Diluc, she might have hinted something about Kaeya? I mean Diluc doesn't mind Kaeya's company at all even though in the head cannon of everyone that he hated his brother but that's not true, the one who hated Kaeya is Kaeya himself. He can't seem to return to Dawn Winery for good due to the "betrayal" he did when they are kids.
DAMN ASHIKAI I GOT CHILLS THROUGHOUT!!
Because the connections in this theory is more visible than in the other theories, like, readily visible visible. DANG. Uhuuu thank you for this video!!
Also, since you've mentioned, it's been explained Diluc is called the Uncrowned King because his house is the biggest player in Mond's biggest industry (the wine industry). If he makes changes to his business, the whole country will be affected.
Something I like about your videos is that I learn about stuff in the real world. Like Nike the sports brand company was totally named Nike because of that Victory meaning.
Oh boy, I'm defiantly gonna need to rewatch this a few times before I fully understand it, but I'm not complaining! This is a tasty, tasty video. 😋
kinda just realized that that's at least four children/protegees of the hexenzirkkel located in Mondstadt: Albedo, Klee, Mona, and if the theory is right, Diluc. Kinda makes you wonder why they're all made to/have been congregating in Mond in the first place