I have seen alot of folk talking about how Morax didn't need the gnosis to make mora back before the Archon war and that's true. But he also didn't need the gnosis to protect liyue or to win the all the battles that he did. He caged Osial the first time without it, but then the second time he had to make sure everything was OK before handing over the gnosis. This means that their powers were locked up in the gnosis. It doesn't matter what they could do before the Heavenly Principles locked them into their laws or else they could obviously turn around and rebel. The whole thing about visions proves this too. Being forced to share their power with humans with strong wills is more evidence that there power is not all their own.
I'm not entirely certain that he isn't ABLE to make anymore Mora after loosing the Gnosis though... I think he's just refusing to make any more as a way to reinforce the ruse that is faking his own death. The illusion would fall apart pretty quickly if people noticed that Mora was continuing to be made/appear after Rex Lapis was supposedly already dead. As far as we know, only the Archons(And Neuvillete who is effectively an Acting Archon), the Adepti(who all serve him), the Fatui (who have a vested interest in staying quiet) and the Traveler know that he's still alive. But if new Mora continued to be Minted, that information would get out REALLY fast, defeating the purpose of faking his death in the first place, whatever his plan is relating to that. So in a sense he actually can't make any more, but not because he lost the physical ability to do so...
Zhongli is like a protagonist of the teyvat who has long past completed his own journey and is now merely playing the role of a spectator witnessing the ongoing change in teyvat without interfering while freeing himself from the constraints of his contracts
@@ADioSimp her weapons? Who knows. She was able to split like 3 islands in half with one strike with her pole arm and her sword can split dimensions. But zhongli is/was the most powerful archon.
also I highly doubt that Zhongli lost his ability to create gold. He just can't use it openly to make the others think that it has connection to Gnosis. He himself said that mora/gold is his blood so I think it has to be his origin ability not the one that he has gotten when acquired Gnosis
about your question what is Zhongli hiding oh I am pretty sure he hides many many things. I have so many questions. Like the one is it really was Morax who introduced alchemy (according to liyue domain descriptions), also about his origins. He has so many powers, like dreamwalking, creating pocket domains - and sharing this knowledge was a part of Illumination of adepti. Still most mysterious character imo. After Simulanka I am 99% sure that we will get that black mountain expansion zone down below Liyue. I really hope we can get some more info about Zhongli then
Venti was in slumber during the Cataclysm. According to the book Breeze Amidst The Forest, it was said that the prayers of the Mondstadt people awoke Barbatos from his slumber after Rostam and Arundolyn had fallen, leading to no one strong enough to fight Durin, so their prayers were heard and Venti awoke, calling Dvalin to help fight against Durin
Nope, Venti was in fact sleeping during the Cataclysm, it was just that, according to the book Breeze Amidst The Forest, Venti awoke from the prayers of the people of Mondstadt to defend against Durin
@@GriffonoficationIf you're really interested in Zhongli and haven't already, I would recommend Ashikai to you. She's got a few videos and streams where she talks about him. Most are theories, but then she has pointed out stuff I never even noticed like for instance; why is it that he's the only Archon with a statue holding a square while all others are holding spheres? She mentions Chinese cosmology in where heaven is circular and earth is a square.
If you know some Chinese, you might find the name Zhongli very interesting. The original Chinese characters are 钟 (zhong) and 离 (li). The character 钟(Zhong) = 钅 (Gold) + 中(China), and the 离(li) = 璃(Liyue) - 王(Lord/king). Additionally, 钟 (zhong) means 'clock' and shares the same pronunciation with the word 'final', this is associated with death in Chinese culture. And 离 (li) means 'leave' or 'depart.', the combination means "time to leave/final end (of a life)". The name intriguingly encapsulates his story in Liyue. Furthermore, Zhongli is a rarely used family name, not a full name. We still don't know his full name. In 2500 years ago in Chinese history, there was a lord named Zhongli, and his wife was called '无盐,' where '盐' means salt, '无' means without/loss, which connects to the story of the god of salt.
Wow that's so interesting! I love how so much of this games lore is hidden all over the place. I feel like we lorist are playing a game with the story and lore developers, where in they hide things just for us to find and expound on. After all what's the fun in hiding secrets if there is no one to challenge to find them🙂 Thanks for the cool info😁
@@theunlikelygenshingamer Yes!! There are many more examples like this. For example the Chinese name of his elemental burst, '天星' (Tianxing), it can mean 'Meteor from the sky,' but it also refers to a Chinese steelyard balance, an artifact used for measurement. '天星' represents the marks on the steelyard that indicate measurement units, symbolizing concepts 'contracts,' and 'measurement'.
Sorry god of salt is not his wife and not related at all because god of salt got killed by his own ppl because they don't want to see he/her suffering Guizhong is a god of dust Not salt
@@star_lordz2401 You missed the point. They did not say that Havria was Morax's wife. They said there was a king of china named Zhongli, and her wife's name contained a word that meant Salt.
Well no. Zhongli still has the ability to create mora. He just didn't because he said he wants to live like a human so he must follow the laws/rules of being human. So no mora creating. It's also said that when Zhongli taught the Liyue people how to create houses, he used pure mora as materials for the model, that's before archon war started.
@Cudoviste24 I believe the Gnosis is said to be able to mint Mora, but ultimately, mora came from Zhongli's very flesh and blood. Mora exists before the assignment of Gnosis to the 7 winners.
Okay so, there's too many misconception to Zhongli's ability to create Mora. Short answer: he never said he needed the Gnosis to do that. He NEVER once said that. The Liyue Archon quest specifically said that the Golden House needed the
@@devilofgreed760 Nothing to do with the Geo Authority. Mora was already created long BEFORE the Archon Wars. It most likely even existed during the war between Heavenly Principles and the Second Who Came which resulted in the creation of the Gnosis and the start of the Archon Wars. The Archon Wars ended only 2000 years ago, Liyue Harbour was founded 3700 years ago and Zhongli has lived for 6000 years. He even had his own established civilisation prior to Guili Assembly and Liyue Harbour.
@@devilofgreed760Read the Prithiva Topaz Gemstone description, it’s specifically about Zhongli himself. Gold is his innate power because that’s what he’s made of
I see Zhongli i click. Your video is sooo soothing. It's calming, just Like Zhongli. I dont care if there are more powerful gameplay character, i just love Zhongli
When I think of Zhongli and would measure his power outta 10 I’d say 10 or higher. Mans just trying to live a peaceful life now and had enough war in his life.
I really liked your idea about the Tsaritsa having a plan to free the Archons and fool the Heavenly Principals, similar to Focalars. One thing that has always bugged me the entire time I have played Genshin was that at the start, they show Fatui as bad guys. They steal the Gnosis, but we basically learn after the first few chapters that the Archons are ok with it happening, but also the Fatui are still treated as the bad guys, which just didnt make sense to me. Either the Archons are ok with them or should be fighting them to keep it right? But if its all one big plan to trick Celestia, then that makes sense. They dont really care if it happens, but they have to pretend like they are. That could lead to some crazy events soon! Especially if Zhongli is as old and special as we think. Maybe he predates the dragons and other gods and was involved with the Primordial Ones and the Shades or something.
Another thing to note, is that the Gnosis may be a net negative to a god. Neuvillette was told that Gnosis bears a curse from the death of the Third Descender, and he gave it away at the first opportunity, like it was a hot potato. Archons bear the burden of the gnosis, because nobody else could. So when Tsaritsa volunteered to take them all, most archons did not think much about it. Still, it is clear that people like Nahida and Zhongli know about Tsaritsa's plan, and are fine with it. And most of the Fatui would give their lives for that plan. Whatever the plan it, it's going to be awesome. Unless Hoyoverse mess it up, but I think they have what it takes to pull it off.
@@kotarouinugami1745 oh wow ya thats a great thought, i forgot about it being a curse. Makes even more sense they are fine with getting rid of them and really makes you wonder what the Tsaritsa is up to. Im so excited to see what happens in Natlan and then Snezhnaya after that. I think Natlan will have something else happen with the Gnosis too, because if they Fatui get it and have all 7 like it has happened in the other nations, then we would have to wait a year to see what the Tsaritsa's plan is even though she has everything. Feels like that would be a little bit odd and lose some of the hype. My crackhead theory is we get the Gnosis and use that to become the Pyro Traveler Archon Sovereign w/e u wanna call it lol. Then we could meet up next year with the Tsaritsa and figure it out.
@@kotarouinugami1745 I wonder whats going to happen with fontaine hydro gnosis? Is tsaritsa going to fight neuvillete to get it or is neuvillette going to give it to her?
The mystery of the archon war is core to the whole zhongli storyline, and likely we'll only get snippets in next years lantern right when we may get madam ping as a playable character. Some people say guizhong was the god of chenyu vale but I think it's far more sinister. I think that an enormous amount of godlike entities were subjugated and mind controlled if you will and were forced to fight against their friends. This is why zhongli was forced to do as he did as there was NO cure except maybe the destruction of the one who started it and zhong could never get to them. Xiao knows firsthand what it's like to be controlled in this manner as he was freed from one of these "dark gods". When the "new war" yae miko and EI talk about comes I think a number of these old entities that escaped to the dark sea will return with their minions. Probably at a similar time that durin is resurrected. The time from when the "second who came" arrived , the apocalypse and the archon war is key to our understanding and we dont know much yet.
@@serezelveydawn We got a playable Birb... Never doubted A SECOND we're gonna get a playable Ping after Keqing said in the first lantern rite that ''She can take any form she wants''
Neuvillette calls the Gods "Fragments" in a certain voiceline, so it is possible that the Gods inherited the Primordial One's fragments of power. Since we know that the Creator is no more, we can assume that the smaller gods are all shards of the Primordial One and that the Archon War was basically all Gods going Highlander. But as Liyue showed us, consuming Gods' remains often drive people mad or make them sick, Mortals and Gods alike.
@bonk78624 Nope, Neuvillette never specified if these fagments of the "primordial" meant the Gods or the Shades... Matter of fact and you might be surprised that he potentially would have been talking about the Dragons because when the dragons talk about Phanes they NEVER call him the "primordial" but rather the "usurper". So careful with this one.
My guess is, there is only one power dangerous enough to control gods and turn friends into foes. It's the Abyssal Corruption, and we've seen it turn Dvalin into Stormterror.
HA, well made Video. I am slowly beginning to think many don't take his age and his story into heart at all; it was a very good elaboration on the countless things this Individual has witnessed, done and influenced, the God of Gold. As to those in the comments, speaking of ithis video, elaborating, debunking those that do not know what they are talking about, PREACH! it is rare to find those that actually invest into his lore and story, while at the same time theorising. I feel proud that this topic of discussion was not yet discarded and is still as interesting to talk about as ever.
I think Zhongli does know what Tsaritsa is planning. I think his contract with her is to protect Liyue and it's people. He also didn't end every enemy in Liyue. He sealed Azhdaha to stop him from destroying Liyue and it's people. I hope they don't try making Zhongli the scapegoat "villian" to Teyvet.
Exactly!! That's what I observed. He also sealed Osial and its wife, which to me was weird since Osial was a huge problem to Liyue before... Kinda suspicious.
@@donkey_mediocre7246 Yes! That would mean that he chose the safest option for the people and nation. I also think that in the case of Azhdaha; he didn't want to end his friend. Just my take on it though.
Amazing video as always ! just one thing I wan to point out, Zhongli DID NOT in fact lose the Ability to make Gold, it's Liyue that lost it. The reason why he doesn't create it for himself is simple : it would be unfair for him, living as a human amonsgt human society to make gold whereas other humans have to work hard to earn it. It's the whole point of calling him Deus Auri and the lore of the Diolog of the Desert Sages, creating gold is an innate capability of Deus Auri, much like him being the Prime of Adepti, it has seldom to do with his title as an Archon or the Gnosis, since much like Deshret, Morax didn't wish for dominion and had no interest in the throne in the first place, and the first house in Liyue was made form a model cast from Gold, A WHILE BEFORE the Archon war even ended, he neither lost his Adeptal powers nor his ability to create Gold. Another point, Zhongli's namecard reads 天星 or Heavenly Star, and his TCG card (which is canonically created by the Hexenzerkiel) reads : ''A hidden gemstone can illuminate the whole earth, bright and unrivaled as a star.'' which makes sense, since IRL Gold is a star-born ore that can only and exclusively be created in extreme cosmic events, which throws us back to what Albedo said about Gold... Also please check out the SUMMIT SHAPER LORE... it might give us an insight of what _the contract to end all contracts_ is probably about.
I've been seeing a number of people say this and I'm wondering we're it came from. Zhongli in fact does keep many secrets. But it's not a secret that there are certain divine abilities that the Archons have that they lose when lodi g their gnosis like the Nahida’s in ability to power the Akasha anymore. Zhongli in fact said that he did not make a stash for himself before surrendering the gnosis which Paimon berated him for. But he has actually lost the ability a part of the exchange that he was well aware would happen. This is further proven by the fact that Regrator who runs the Northland Bank and was also operating in Liyue, (that's how Yelan stole his gift to the Tsaritsa). His goal is to take away the enterprise of money making from the Archon of Gold who, he believed should never have had it. It's clear that Zhongli lost a great deal of power when he gave it away because it's why he had to be sure he could still save them if Liyue couldn't manage. His life blood is gold because he did create it but knowingly bargained away that and other powers in exchange for some as of now unknown equally valuable trade. Just like Nahida did for unprecedented knowledge. As for his ability to make it before, it's very likely that rather than give the Archons more power when they won the war,their existing abilities where bound up in the gnosis. That's how Celestia keeps them in there place.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer Yes the reason why people say that is because, it's a fact. It's all about the wording, I think it was much clearer in other versions than in the ENG localisation but even in the said version it's just a matter of wording at best. Zhongli never claimed he lost HIS ability to create Mora, or Gold, he said that the house of mint will cease operation because the Gnosis is gone. Moreover, regarding HIMSELF he also said in the dialog. Paimon: But why would Morax lack Mora? Zhongli: As the Rex Lapis Morax, I can easily create Mora. But since I have *CHOSEN* to walk this earth as the mortal Zhongli, I *should abide by the same rules that mortals* do. Creating Mora in the Golden House requires the use of the Geo Archon's power, and not the Gnosis particularly, so it's more of a matter of since the Archon is ''dead'', no Mora can be created. Paimon: That's right! Zhongli, now that you don't have your Gnosis, what's going to happen to all the Mora in Teyvat? Paimon: Since Morax is "dead," are they all just gonna disappear? Paimon: Also, isn't the Golden House the only mint in the entire continent? Will it even continue to work? Zhongli: The Mora present now will not vanish. But the Golden House will indeed have to cease operations for a lengthy period of time, since creating Mora requires the use of the Geo Archon's power. Historically, the power to create gold was always in his possession even before the creation of Liyue, and the Prithiva Topaz Gemstone stated (as well as Paimon before and in Genshin's anniversary trivia bits more recently) that Gold was his FLESH AND BLOOD, and casted from HIS DEVINE BODY, and what he handed over was the Gnosis and NOT HIS divine Abilities or his divine blood. Even Neuvilette's insight tells us that before gaining the Authority of Geo, he was DEUS AURI, or the god of gold [...] which won't make sense if it wasn't an ability of his, as explained in various sources such as the Pethriva Gemstone, his Story quest, Dialog of the Desert Sages, himself, Neuvilette .... And when you mention the Akasha System and also I would add the Oratrice and collecting Idemtitium, and the Electro Gnosis with control over weather, it's a similar case, THIS IS WHAT THE GNOSIS DOES, all are cases of DIVINE ABILITIES AUTOMATED/ENHANCED or DELEGATED with the use of the Gonsis. which is EXACTLY how Neuvillette described it. When the Akasha was shut down, it didn't make Nahida lose her powers over dreams did she ? and when Ei disposed of her Gnosis to Miko, lore still told us that she controlled the weather in Inazuma 🤷♂ well it's the same thing. And if you want to go even further, if the Gnosis was in fact what allows him to create Gold, the creation of Mora would have simply moved to Snezhnaya and not be ceased, and we know for fact now that the harbingers could NOT create gold, since in the Fortress of Meropide they were attempting to test a new ''currency'' which are the coupons. Also the last part of your comment doesn't make sense given that what the Archons got from Celestia was the authority and the Gnosis, and it has NEVER been mentioned in lore that she took whatever form them, I think the relationship between Celestia and the Archons is a bit misunderstood... It also leads to a belittling of the Archon's own powers and Abilities. Archons represent the mandated entities that exerce the rule of Celestia over Teyvat, the auxiliaries between humans and heavens since the ultimate goal is to harvest something from humans by channeling the powers THROUGHT the Archons, and even more Zhongli (and Nahida )since his Adeptal powers have a direct effects over the powers of nature as observed in Chenyu Vale (and her powers over dreams consequently). What ''keeps archons in check'' already was mentioned by Scylla, it's them being ''cursed'' with the LOVE OF HUMANITY, and funnily enough it was always the case, since Archons were not always the most powerful Gods, but conveniently those who won this title were the ones who cared about humanity the dearest. So Celestia NEEDS the Archons, and RELAYS on their love of humanity to keep them on check, therefore she doesn't need to take anything from them, otherwise they could have done it with so many gods before.
My understanding of this claim from doing so much digging on this topic is that Morax has always had to ability to create gold/mora, but the gnosis simply "amplified" that ability so that he could create LOTS of it, enough to circulate all of Teyvat and be used as the primary currency. He's had the ability to create gold/medium since the early days of the archon war, before the 7 archons ever received their gnosis.
As you pointed out, Zhongli was around at the very beginning of Teyvat. I have a theory that he is actually one of the shades of the Primordial One - the shade of death. I just find it very interesting that of all things, when he decides to 'live as a mortal' he gets a job working for a funeral parlor. He is certainly intimately acquainted with death, as he has dealt more of it than probably any other being in Teyvat's history, with as long as he has lived. I also find it rather telling that of all the beings that were alive at that time, only he is still around.
There are lots of theories about the shades and their identities. Some say they are the 3 moon sisters and the sun, some say they are individual entities different from the moon sisters. But one thing is certain , at least 3 of the shades have dominion over time and space . Istaroth is said to be the God of Moments,not of time. Moments are parts of time . Ei's 2nd story quest further supports this . Istaroth is associated with wind and birds and death. In an interview, the genshin developers said that the artefacts are inspired by tarot cards,and so far, Istaroth aligns with the tarot card that represents death and wind. Its just a theory, but considering the repeating themes and coincidences , it doubt that they are just coincidences. My point is that Istaroth is better suited for the Shade of Death than Morax is.
@zoro2082 Theories are just speculations that can only be wrong once proven wrong, so no, all theories about the shades that have a solid base are not wrong until proven otherwise.
In terms of Hoyoverse multiverse, this makes me think that Zhongli is the Teyvat version of Nanook the Destruction from HSR especially with how both have many gold motifs and caused much destruction in their wake.
You are so so underrated i caught you by accident --- you're on my fyp --- and oh gosh the way you connect the lore and narrate it perfectly is chefs kiss
I'm a simple woman who loves Zhongli very much! So i see a theory about him, i click and watch! I do recall a theory about him being a possible shade. There's also that weird thing about the shape he holds in comparison to the other Archon statues... like why does he hold a cube unlike the rest? Theres also the line he said about the contract with Celestia, saying how it was signed before it all began. I wonder the timeline of that contract 🤔 i think there's a line in the geo ascension material that Zhongli’s yet to say as well, calling mora, or something that i can't remember, the blood of Tevyat. That has some implications as well as to his identity imo
Chinese culture often emphasizes the importance of money and power. Zhongli, a character in Genshin Impact, embodies both wealth and immense power as a powerful archon. The intriguing questions are: How powerful is he really? Why did he enter into contracts with Celestia? Could these contracts be designed to limit his power, or is there another reason? Considering that Zhongli made these contracts even before the creation of Teyvat and that Liyue represents China, it’s reasonable to believe he should be the strongest character in Teyvat. However, it seems that miHoYo might be downplaying this fact.
Zhongli may be a grandpa, but I do believe he knows what the Tsaritsa is up to, someone who can entice a ruthless warlord who has been questioning oneself, must have a plan truly worthy of the support of a truly ancient and well respected god
A small correction, zhongli hasn't lost the ability to create mora, zhongli never required the gnosis to make mora, He got the gnosis 2600 years ago, he made the first mora, and the golden house 3700 years ago, beforre the war even began, and it's stated in mora description that mora is his flesh and blood too So the gnosis connection was either a wrong judgement by paimon, or he himself lied to aether and paimon Another thing is that he never denies knowing about lumine's travels, he says he can't say anything because of a contract, so a contract that stands above his contract with the tsarita to end all contracts Also, something to think is that the devine thrones give archons the power to use the elements, but zhongli has shown absolute authority over the element of geo before he received the devine throne, having formed many of the mountains, and all of guyun stone forest, so who is he really?
Alot of these came from one assumption that he's as old as the world itself but Moonlit Bamboo Forest said that when the Three Moon Sisters died, Rex Lapis is still young meaning he couldn't be that old comparing to Egeria who had been created from the beginning of the creation of the world. Also Deshret and Remus died in the Archon War but more of self-inflicted rather than actual losing a battle to someone else. In Zhongli's story quest 2, Its Zhongli himself said he would have not had a chance to confront Azhdaha, let alone sealing him, if the Dragon didn't have any good will left in him. And this is a dragon without its authority. Showing Dragon Sovereigns are still far more powerful than even the strongest Archons.
I agree, also when it comes to the Fontaine storyline, we learned Neuvilette without the power of Focalors was as strong as an Archon, and only when he absorbed the power of the hydro Archon did he become a full dragon. That means that a full dragon has power worth two Archons of the same element.
NO, so many things to be corrected in your statement. Deshret didn't die in the Archon war my dear. he was still alive when [Redacted] ascended to Archonhood after he refused the seat himself. And neither Remus did because he founded Remuria AFTER the fall of Gurabad. Moonlioght bamboo forest is written in a human PoV, it's to be taken with a grain of salt. Moreover the newer lore makes it look like he is, actually older than we assume, given than, form Xianyun's lore and story of Chenyu Vale, Adepti existed before Gods came into beign, and for someone who is supposed to be the Ancestor of the Adepti, it just doesn't make sense for him to be that young, which further straighten the theory that when he said he DWELLED upon this land for more than 6000 years, he actually means dwelling and not living. Moreover ''young'' for an adeptus is relative. Both Ganyu and Xiao are ''young'' Adepti and still they're both several millennia old. Moreover, form a cultivation standpoint, at the point when he was still considered young by the bamboo forest book, we know that Rex Lapis had a PHENOMENAL force when he landed upon Teyvat, given that when he descended he already was powerful enough to raise a lot of the now Liyue territory form under the sea floor. none of the now ''young'' nor "mighty and illuminated'' Adepti possess such power, given that cultivation, in Daoist logic, is accumulating spiritual energy through cultivation and time. The encounter with Azhdaha is full of misconceptions. Given that Azhdaha said himself that Zhongli was in fact the strongest, it's THE WILL to subdue Azhdaha that he lacked (as what I understood from the CN text) and NOT the power. Azhdaha's will to serve humanity and his memories of his allies were dimming, and when Zhongli talks about him ''willingly be sealed'' it means that it was as agreed upon, it's not that he was ''holding back'' but he deeply knew that what Rex Lapis was doing was hard on him too, but he had to do it, even the *Developer Insight* clearly supports that the victory of Rex Lapis was UNCONTESTABLE, but it was a great loss for him, he even shared some of his mastery with him to save him from erosion which people tend t forget, and even ''not having his full authority'' doesn't mean Azhdaha was weak, he still commanded the leylines and drew power from them, matter of fact, Zhongli's way of dealing with the dragon (sealing him AWAY from the Leylines) only makes him more suspicious.
@APerls Neuvilette without the power of Focalors was as powerful as an Archons ? when was that even stated ? You can't even compare Focalors to other Archon when she had said authority given that, she has no feats... well, her predecessor, Egeria, died during the cataclysm and was so corrupted she couldn't even resurrect nor anchor her consciousness 🤦♂ and Focalors was merely an oceanid when the likes of Zhongli and Ei were uncontestably powers of nature before gaining any authority 🙃CHILL with your HC y'all. Moreover, where do you get those numbers ? half of not half WHAT ? you seem to forget that Archons, well typically Zhongli and Ei, were the peak of their elemental mastery BEFORE gaining any authority to begin with ? not even mentioning that they have powers of their own that has nothing to do with elemental powers (Zhongli being the prime of Adepti) Y'all tend to forget that the power of the Archons does not only stem form whatever their authority is... this is called recency bias.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer haha thank you very much ! I also want to thank you for bringing up so many of the details you mentioned in the video into light, it's a great deal of effort and so many people are unaware of them so I couldn't be thankful enough 🙏 you have my utmost respect !
I don't mean to point this out but he doesn't need the Gnosis to create Mora. Mora had already existed long before even the Archon Wars. Prior to the Guili Assembly, Morax already established his own civilisation so it's no surprise this is how he taught his people to trade. Mora was created from his own flesh and blood, not the Gnosis. The Gnosis was only used to mint which is two different things. It's why at the end of the Liyue Archon Quest, he said that the financial situation is something the Qixing must figure out on their own even as the Golden House has stopped working. He even stated that he could still create Mora but he just wanted to live as the mortal Zhongli and thus live by the rules of mortals. The entire segments where he and the Traveler goes to buy items was a way for him to practice. This does not mean to say he is lacking of money. Don't forget that as the Consultant of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour, he is paid quite handsomely. During Havria's quest, when the Fatui hired him as Consultant, he even said that he would pay him handsomely. Zhongli is also a lecturer and is the most revered in Wangsheng. So yes, this boi is not only swimming in money but if he really wanted to, he could just make more Mora.
The Alchemical Magnum Opus represents Zhongli's journey pretty well. Nigredo represents his datk origins where he witnessed the Fall Of The Seelies, Albedo represents the time of peace where he ruled the Guili Assembly, Rubedo represents the Archon War where he drowned civilizations in Blood and finally Citrinitas where he found perfection in his ways that Guizhong always wanted him to realise.
I agree that zhongli has a bigger role to play, considering he is lord of liyue/China, it is just fitting to make him a hero if not big player of the game.
Btw, Zhongli's "Altered" voice line about the seven is yes, altered, but he still only confirms himself and Venti as the original 2. Not including Nahida even though Rukka deleted herself. His story quest when he places the Salt Goddess's relics in the ocean also depicts he knows history can be changed and altered. He knew of the Traveler's immunity of "forgetting" events like in Sumeru. Hence, he's knows of the Descenders.
if zhong li was from teyvat, nahida could know everything he knows, including his secrets, cause they would be into irminsul now that his gnosis is not in his hands anymore, so the "contract" he had taht wouldn't allow him to share his secrets to the world, is now broken.
@FilippoBonora THAT.... If Zhongli was in fact not immune to Irminsul tempering, in a way or another, his "contract" to keep silence would be useless. Why silence somebody when you can alter their memory in the first place ?
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 sorry for the spelling error and any other grammar error you found in my comment, i am not a native speaker. and to answer your question, the problem is that the informations zhong li had were never in irminsul in the first place. and the heavenly principles can't control irminsul, cause is native from teyvat and they are not, so they cannot alter someones memory nor cancel them completely from irminsul.
..I don't think Nahida can read the minds of just *anyone* that is in irminsul. Dottore is from Teyvat, he's in Irminsul, so how did he know stuff Nahida did not? How do the Fatui have info Nahida doesn't if she just knows everything about them?
People always underestimate archon,Egeria could still save Fontaine if it weren't for the rule,Neuvillette was the only last resort because he isn't affected by the rule,Archon are powerful enough to do thing themselves, the only problem is the rule. And Zhongli being the most powerful among other original archon is obvious, he is China God and genshin is Chinese game,so people should give up on the idea of Zhongli is weaker than the sovereign, we already seeing how biased Hoyo are toward Liuye. The only reason original archon died was because of the abyss corruption rather than some body else. Even sovereign failed to master the power of abyss and died to Celestia
If you know some Chinese, you might find the name Zhongli very interesting. The original Chinese characters are 钟 (zhong) and 离 (li). The character 钟(Zhong) = 钅 (metal/gold) + 中(China), and the 离(li) = 璃(Liyue) - 王(Lord/king). Additionally, 钟 (zhong) means 'clock' and shares the same pronunciation with the word 'final, and 离 (li) means 'leave' or 'depart.', the combination means "time to leave/final end" The name intriguingly encapsulates his story. Furthermore, Zhongli is a rarely used family name, not a full name. We still don't know his full name. In 2500 years ago in Chinese history, there was a lord named Zhongli, and his wife was called '无盐,' where '盐' exactly means salt, which connects to the story of the god of salt.
I think he's the remnant of the primordial one the first to have arrived at Teyvat. That would make him be linked to Teyvat as it's creator, so hes not seen as an outsider but he also would keep his memories outside Irmingsul's control. And if he is the god of gold, and that's the color asociated with Celestia and the Travelers, it could make some sense. And the first contract he signed, that's the one enslaving him in Teyvat's rules, is probably the one he signed when he lost Celestia to the second who came. What do you think?
Zhongli's body count XDDDD it's funny coz I used to think body count means how many people' someone has killed... Then I realised it's "in bed with" later in 2024 .. it's crazy
"The longest reigning entity in Teyvat besides the Heavenly Principles" Wouldn't that technically be Apep, who as the Original Dendro Dragon Sovereign, has been around even longer than the Heavenly Principles?
@Aidan_Yao Yeah I think they are talking aboit Teyvat as we know it, because after the arrival of PO the dragons were reigning on nothing. And if you wanna consider that, Azhdaha also and not only Apep, given that he's canonically older than mountains and seas as well.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 Not sure about Azhdaha - it seems that he just respawned with old memories, like Neuvillette. Even if he is the Sovereign - not everybody agrees on that.
@@aduckonaplane3816 I was under impression that he had some of his memories from early on, but got much more memories when he restored his full strength. I do not claim to be knowledgeable about Neuvillette, though.
Zhongli literally arrived on teyvat 6000 years ago in the golden chariot landing in the chasm. Cbt1 voicelines had zhongli being reminiscent of celestia. He is either one of the shades or some other important figure banished or some other reason arrived on teyvat. Thats why he is the god of contracts because he literally cant say anything. People are literally underestimating him because hoyo doesnt reveal a lot for the gods who lived longer like zhongli and venti.
A few things you forgot to mention and i can fill in. Zhongli was considered to be a brute and only know to resolve things with violence. Thats why Mercy was never associated with him. After he met Guizhong he started slowly to change . The people of Guizhong always said He was the Brawn and she was the Brain of their partnership. Thats how Guili Plains was named after them. Gui-Guizhong / li-Zhongli. Morax after the death of Guizhong went in a blind rage back to his former self. Slaughtering everyone that dared opposing him or betrayed him. I am glad you mentioned the Jade Cutter, thats the most important item that defines Zhongli's relationship with Guizhong. The part regarding the Gnosis, the Gnosis is not their power, its their Authority. Basically showing who is the supreme ruler of that region. During the Archon War his body count was the highest but he was not an Archon then, his power is his specifically not borrowed from Celestia. When he met Guizhong he wasnt an Archon he was an Adepti/God . A very easy way to notice him actually faking his weakness is when he fought Azhdaha and Azhdaha mentioned he couldve killed him but he chose not to. Zhongli tries to say he couldnt because even last time he needed the help of the Adepti to seal him,meanwhile Azhdaha told him if he actually wanted to he couldve without any issues. Another 1 that shows he has his powers fully is the moment when we try to Escape the Chasm Labyrinth with Xiao and Xiao was ready to die for us. Morax was always aware of what we were doing and just when he saw their is no alternative he jumped inside the distorted dimension and rescued him like it was nothing and left without us even noticing he just saved Xiao from certain Death. A side note. Venti and Morax we know for sure are friends that constantly bicker but i have the feeling Zhongli doing all that part with leaving Liyue in their own hands and him taking a more outsider's view perspective just gives me the vibe he addapted completely Venti's rule. Let the people decide their own fate and only if imminent peril is bound to happen, thats when he will intervenne. This is my theory from what ive read so far in the game about Morax. Have a nice day ^_^
I'm sorry but Zhongli was not a brute. Nor did he change just because of Guizhong. The Adepti follow him because of his Compassion and love for humans. He had to wear the mask of unmovable visage which meant that he could not allow his guard to falter and continue wearing a firm and cold expression to keep his people safe. When the dust settled is literally an old English phrase that has been used for a long time that means once a situation has calm down which in this case means the end of the Archon War. It has nothing to do with Guizhong. Also, he NEVER faked fighting Azhdaha. You misunderstood his meaning, Zhongli came to him as a friend and not as an assassin. What he couldn't do that day was ask one of his most dearest old friend to be sealed. How many times has Zhongli sealed away an old friend? Of course it would be hard on him. If you read Xianyun's lore, it is clearly stated that the 'values and compassion of Morax, the God of Contracts, won him the favor of Cloud Retainer and the other adepti, and so they followed him into battle.' He had always been a compassionate God! Don't forget that the Adepti had long existed before the word 'Liyue' even existed and they followed him. That speaks volumes of his character. Also, we already know why Zhongli left Liyue in the hands of his people. It's literally told to us in the Liyue Archon Quest and even again during this year's Lantern Rite when the theme is about parents letting go of their children. He is literally Liyue's Parent. He cared for them, nurtured them and protected them all these years all because he loves thems which isn't because of Guizhong by the way. It's even in his trailer. 'This is an age of Gods and Monsters, I wish not for dominion, yet I cannot watch the common folk suffer.' 😭😭😭😭
@@ChainedThoughts its stated literally and in Guili plains lore about his attitude before meeting Guizhong and in the jade cutter lore how he literally made a genocide after Guizhong's death, did you completely miss that lore?. He was never a compassionate God, he was a righteous God. He punished even former friends that broke contracts, its stippulated in Jade cutter lore once again.
@@cris9485 Which was already debunked that Soraya was biased when it came to Guizhong and Morax. Read Xianyun's story. It literally states he is compassionate. He is fair and just. Of course he would abide by the contracts. He is the God of Contracts and it was during the time of war. Liyue had the highest number of Gods who threatened the safety of his people. Doesn't make him any less compassionate. Also he never committed genocide. Zhongli very deeply cares for his people even long before meeting Guizhong. He never wanted to join the fight, he only did so to protect his people. His people even built him a mansion yet he refused because he wanted to live close to them. You keep telling me one lore and I'm giving you a counter argument with added lore that proves he was not a brute. Not only that Eng translations take so much out of context and change the meanings for the past 4 going into 5 years. I play in Chinese and so much is wrongly translated.
@@ChainedThoughts true Zhongli didn't want to fight. If I'm not mistaken it's because of the Goddess of Salt's death that he became determined to fight.
@@jadepuguon1177 It really isn't because of Havria. As I have stated earlier, it's in his trailer. He fought for his people. He literally says this in his trailer. Havria's death is true for a lot of Gods who could not protect their people and the point of the quest was to show how easily history can be changed which is why Traveler's role as witness was important. "I wish not for dominion, but I cannot watch the common folk suffer." I don't know why this is so difficult to understand.
I always laugh when people think Neuvillette would beat Zhongli. First of all, there is a pretty big chance Zhongli himself is the Geo Sov, and even if not, he's still a 5000 year old killing machine, idc how powerful Neuvillette is, Zhongli isn't going down in a 1 on 1 fight where he can fully unleash. The reason he avoided Neuvillette is because he doesn't want to have to fight, much less someone who could maybe make him fight for real, that would only destroy half of Liyue which is not something he wants. And I'm not saying Neuvillette is not strong. He is the Hydro Sov after all, but I do not believe or accept for one second he could defeat Zhongli or even Raiden. What he has in raw power they both have in thousands of years of battle prowess and amassing reserves of power.
I have a personal theory that Zongli is actually the Ancient Soverign Dragon of Geo... The idea is that he made a Deal/contract with the Primordial One to betray the other Dragons in exchange for keeping his "Sovereign seat". It's not like "Traitor Dragons" are an unheard of thing either, Dvalin willingly serves Venti after all(And is most likely a Sovereign Dragon himself, considering he's supposed to have had greater control over the winds than even the "Thousand Winds" herself(Istaroth, a Primordial shade) before he was poisoned by Abyssal poison during the calamity). There's a few reasons that lead me to thinking this. For starters, the Form he use to Fake his death is that of a Dragon, when the people saw a Geo dragon drop down on Liyue, nobody doubted that it was Rex Lapis, so Clearly he's been associated to the form of a Dragon for a while... Then there's Azdeha, who never liked Humans, he seems them as bugs beneath him, same goes for Adepti and other Archons, but he sees Morax as someone worthy of Respect, as though he was a Dragon himself. His age is also a hint, given that he's supposed to be around 6000 Years Old and has been in charge for pretty much all that time, it'd make sense if he had been Liyue's Sovereign Dragon from the start. Then there's the fact that Neuvillete Calls him "Deus Auri" (Yes, I'm aware it means "God of Gold", that does not negate the potential draconic significance of it), Nobody else Calls him that, not even Venti. The primary thing that sets Neuvillette Apart from anyone else is that he IS a Dragon(Not just a really old Vishap like Azdeha), so it feels like the name Deus Auri is something that only Dragons would call him, Ancient ones at that. What makes it even Weirder is that Neuvillete is actually very young for a Sovereign Dragon, he's only 500 Years old, he was reborn right after the Calamity, but he seems to have some inherited Memories from his previous incarnation, which tells me that "Deus Auri" might be Zongli's most ancient, and probably true, Name. Oh, and lets not forget that Zongli can Sense Neuvillete's presence well enough that he can just dodge him completely to avoid causing a scene, almost like he Smells another dragon nearby, but Neuvilette doesn't really know how to do that yet... Oh and lets not forget that Neuvillete has a PARTICULAR Hate for Zongli, in his Voice lines about the various Archons, he more or less says things like "I'll need to punish them for the Role that they or their forbearers had in the unjust downfall of my kind" but he holds no actual animosity towards most of them, he treats it like it's a Job that he'll have to do at some point. Except Venti and Zongli. For Venti he Seems to dislike him for his Role in the Primordial War but it doesn't go much further than that, But for Zongli it Runs deeper, his voice line(and tone) implies that he Genuinely HATES Zongli, the kind of hate reserved for Traitors, not simply enemies...(Also, he Seems to bear no grudge at all against Nahida, so that's nice) Combine all that with the fact that so far, every Archon has been a different type of Entity. Venti is a Wind spirit Spawn of the Thousand Winds (a Primordial Shade), Makoto and Ei were probably Humans that Ascended to something Higher, then Ei Shoved her Soul in a Sword that she sealed in a Puppet, Rukkhadevata/Kusanali are effectively an Avatar of Irminsul (and possibly also a kind of Djinn?), Focalors and Furina were Oceanids in human form with extra features, and Natlan's Archons were supposedly all human that pass down their power and authority to other humans they consider worthy... So if Zongli IS a Sovereign Dragon, it would make him yet another different type of being, which fits the theory.... This is WAY too many things adding up to pointing to him as a Sovereign Dragon for it to just be a coincidence! Oh and to be Clear, I'm saying that's he's the Sovereign Dragon that's been "Leashed" by Celestia, as part of the contract he made with the Primordial One, he Lost a part of what he was before the contract, and he had to FIGHT to earn his right to be Archon. He was a Sovereign with all the power and authority that represents, but then he Lost the authority, then fought the Archon war to get it back, but in a limited state as a Gnosis. He's not back to the full power that he had back when he Betrayed the other Dragons, but he's not as diminished as the others have become today (Except Neuvillete, of course, since he had his FULL authority Returned)
1. Where are you getting that 6k years ago was the dawn of the Seelies at the very most it was the fall and end of the seelies and humans were around during the Seelie reign. Iirc Zhongli said he was born at the tail end of some great strife not birth of a long civilization. 2. Slimes, crystal flies and dragons have been in the game since day one and are born naturally and natively from elemental energy with jack all to do with the primordial sea. The same goes for the Aranara, the Djinn, Youkai and various other Flora and Fauna. It has been provable false that only life born from the primordial sea is native since day one of the game. If anything the primordial sea is from the light realm which makes them among the only provable aliens in the game. Nueviltte and the dragons dont seem to understand that Teyvat is what was created after the sovereigns lost. The light realm still exists if they want to go there, they are not native to Teyvat nor its originators despite how they continuously portray themselves. Ofcourse it makes sense they would portray themselves like that so theres nothing wrong with the game/storytelling but we shouldn't become caught up in taking what they say at face value.
All of this, except for one thing, the human realm is built upon the light realm. The dragons cannot go there anymore because their home is no more. It is now Teyvat, which belongs to humanity.
The 6K years is lore accurate if you consider Vermillion Hereafter lore to be true, it mentioned that the moon sisters were martyred in a calamity when Rex Lapis was still young, and given that he have dwelled in Teyvat for more than 6000 years, it checks. He never precise when he was born or in what Civilization, but the common Theory is since Mora is conveniently tucked in very precisely designed blocks in Enkanomiya, it might have been a flag form the Devs to tell you that he was alive back then since no other God is associated neither with gold not with Mora ... Since if you ask him anything else he'd play fool or tell you he's under NDA, I think the devs had been trying to give us clues through Xianyun and the Adepti, because ONE information had been VERBATIM confirmed by him : he's the Prime of the Adepti. Therefore when Xianyun, Little Mao and Fujin tells you that Adepti existed since the dawn of times, of that they witnessed the envoys of Celestia, or wherever back they push the lore of the Adepti in time, you better believe he was there. But all of your questionening is reasonable.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 The fall of the Seelie and moon sisters should coincide theoretically. So it shouldn't be the dawn of the Seelie. The dawn of the Seelie should be not too long after Teyvat was created. Which could be thousands of not hundreds of years before their fall, 6000 years ago.
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks I see where you're comming from, though I don't think it'd gonna be that much prior to that. Let me try to piece it toghether : The seelies should have still existed up until witnessing the arrival of the second who came, since the story unfolds as follows : The ancestor of the Seelie once met a traveler from afar and married him. Their marriage was witnessed by the three sisters of the Lunar Palace, thirty days after the union, a disaster struck; the Seelie and their lover fled into self-inflicted exile, but the disaster eventually caught up with them. As punishment, they were separated, and their memories were wiped. Consequently and from another POV, Nabu Malikata, the Goddess of Flowers, lived during the time when the Second Who Came arrived from beyond the firmament and brought war to her kin, she acknowledges that they "brought about illusions that could break through shackles to the land." She was later "cast aside by the heavens" along with the rest of her kin, who were punished for A SIN by becoming stripped of their minds and becoming husks of their former selves, this sin should be what insued after loving humans. Meanwhile, the great disaster overturned the sisters' carriage and ransacked the palace of the stars. According to one tale, the moon sisters turned on each other and killed each other, although other similar legends do not include this detail. There death insued nonetheless after a certain calamity, which is heavily implied to be Nibelung's great war of vengeance against the Heavenly Principles Therefore, unless you assume that there should have been another cataclysmic event that could qualify as a ''Great Calamity'' that lead to the demise of the moon sisters, which we have no knowledge of (I personally don't, I assume the reason the moon sisters fought or were deamed dead was in the calamity that brought delusion to the world, when it was at the verge of disaster, the arrival of the secons who came) so the one that was witnessed by the Seelie race, Ithink the fall of the Seelie Race happenend around the same time.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 I agree with this but my assumption was that this cataclysmic event occurred around 6000 years ago. This event should mark the end of their reign on Teyvat. I think that's what OP is saying also.
We all did Morax's 1 and 2 story right? He can't disclosed these highly classified information since he's under NDA with Celestia. He's the oldest archon so surely he had seen things further in history, and since he's the oldest, he has more knowledge than the rest and we all know that knowledge = power.
My C6 R5 Zhongli NEEDS a 5 star special skin like Diluc's! Also I love his lore. I think there is way more to Rex Lapis. He's hiding so unbelievably much that even his "friends" the other Yaksha's or the adepti may only know so little about him. 6000 years is a massive amount of time in which he may have changed his and other peoples fate several times.
Completing the duty of a vision barer though isnt necessarily their death, the completion for the bearer at least is to achieve that which they yearn for, are motivated to do, their wish if you will. Given that losing the vision after gaining it (as shown in the vision quest) hints than it's almost replaced their ambition or "eaten" it. Feeling unmotivated when they no longer have it. People always assume that it's something nefarious and it could be but it also could just be literally the archons power fragment meshed with their own ambition. Delusions being artificial visions draw power from the substance/life energy of the wielder rather than the originating archon. When we hit schneznaya the creator of delusions will then be revealed, and it could be the jester himself.
I wonder if the traveler and their sibling are children of the seele/moon sister and the outlander they'd married before the disaster that ended the seeles
Yes, but that doesn't make him Stronger than every soverign combined. But he is the strongest archon. Archons cannot use their full abilities because they are from teyvat, and are bound by celestias rules. But Zhongli is a descender so he isnt. Meaning he can use unlimited power like Acheron from HSR bc shes an Emanator of NIhility.
@@nobody-xh6ii It isn't stated but very much implied. In an update when you finished sumerus archon quest, it would remove all archons voice lines about Rukkhhadevata. All arcvhons except zhongli. We also know it was intentional bc they removed smthin else in his story at the same time but left the rukkhadevata part. And only descenders can remember people that have been erased by irminsul.
He is not. Not confirmed at least, just because he descended to Teyvat, doesn't make him one, as we know, it takes more than being an alien, to be a Descender.
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks being an alien means he doesn't bound to teyvat's rule. That alone makes him way more powerful than what we've known so far. He might be more powerful than celestia herself, but because of his contract, he cannot show his true potential. The fact that he had survived many brutal wars and probably knows everything that happens in teyvat. U cannot just ignore the fact that Zhong Li also was not effected by the irminsul, u cannot say Zhong Li is not a descender if he's NOT affected by the irminsul. In stone tablet compilation vol 1 also stated ''in the beggining, rex lapis DESCENDED'' its hard to believe but no matter how hard u study about genshin lore, u still cannot deny that Zhong Li is a descender!
Going forward with the story, i still think the tsaritsa doesn't have the stronger power in her country but probably the top 3 harbinger. they just seems to have some things in common and work for her. But since we're going to be able to pull ALL archons, it seems unlikely we will not pull her, meaning. She will have something to do with the traveler later on and be an ally somewhat.
My theory: The Taritsa wants to destroy the heavenly principles and remake Teyvat free of them, Zhongli agreed to her plan in exchange to either saving the humans or reintroduce them in the new world, that destruction will clear all contracts and star anew.
I loved the Video, but the background music often overlaps the voice in volume which is distracting. If you turn down the music volume a little I would be awesome.❤
Thank you for pointing out the more straightforward explanation for what Visions give to gods. So tired of all the conspiracy theories. I've been thinking - if Visions give return on investment, would Mora give return on investment too? Would every Mora spent to power up weapons, return to Zhongli, filled with power of human greed, making him stronger?
Now that's an interesting prospect. Never thought of that side of it. I find it interesting that Pantalone is so incensed by the idea that the institute of money and trade was entrusted to an archon. He basically wants to introduce the paper dollar just like how the rest of the real world eventually rejected the gold standard and went to paper money which is subject to inflation. According to Wriothesley Bis weapon. He's actually the one who made up credit coupons and decided to run the experiment in the Fortress because it was largely cut off from the Archons influence. Maybe he knows more about what happens when mora is used 🤔
Love these theories! I didn`t know a lot of his lore before! Was wow'ed by the connection (and ashamed of myself for not noticing it) that GOLD is held on a high pedestal in Genshin lore and he is Deus Auri. And using mora to do transmutations! Thanks for the video! Edit: My thoughts as I watched your video... 1. What if part of end game has a lot of vision bearers "die" or "fulfill their contracts" to power up the gnosis/archons by having that borrowed power returned with interest so they can fight Celestia? 2. Or is the fate of some allogenes to ascend to godhood? If yes, who (maybe Arlecchino?) and whose side would they be on? Either through contract (to Celestia) or by their own desire/will. 3. Has it been confirmed that anemo, geo, electro, and dendro visions are no longer being granted since their gnosis have been confiscated by the Fatui? I'm discounting hydro because Neuvillette gifting to Furina. 4. "Fatui" because they are "actors" putting on an elaborate play for the audience (Celestia). If this is their way to explain Dottore and to justify all his inhumane experiments and make him a "good guy" or at least "anti-hero", then I'm gonna probably roll my eyes because of course Hoyo'd find a way to make Dottore marketable.
@@LilianaKali You mean the Fatui, Neuvillette gifted the hydro gnosis to the Fatui. I don't think gnoses are responsible for the creation of visions either, the elemental authority is, and that's stored in Celestia, presumably.
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks I didn't type my thoughts correctly. Thanks for pointing it out. I meant that Neuvillette gifted a VISION to Furina, but do we know of any other VISIONS being gifted since the gnosis containing the authorities (minus hydro authority) are now with the Fatui? I mean Rana got one, but I don't remember if that was canonically before or after the archon quest.
@@LilianaKaliThe aranara quest and literally any world quest or story quest can be before or after the sumeru Archon Quest because that quest like Wanderer's and Ei's 2nd story quest dont care about the time-line. If they are completeted before the sumeru Archon quest nothing will happen but if completed after the sumeru archon quest was completed then they will be altered. Its simply an anomaly.
@@LilianaKaliThe Authorities stolen from the Dragon Sovereigns we're sealed in the Divine Thrones that the Archons sit on . On The Heaven's Glow like Apep said. The Gnosis does not hold any power from the Dragon Sovereigns. The Gnosis hold the remains of the 3rd descender and greatly amplify elemental energy.
I would add that I think the Fatui might want to return the Authority to the Dragon Sovereigns because they have animosity towards Celestia and would be powerful allies in the war against the Heavenly Principles.
i love your exposition here, your videos are always so insightful and inspiring ! i’m curious though, as we know zhongli now to be deus auri, how would the sun god theory factor into all of this? can it even be considered?
If vision holders deaths give a boon of power to the PO or Sustainer when they die, then it would make sense the same goes for delusions right? Has the tsaritsa been harvesting power through handing out delusions this entire time?
@@kotarouinugami1745They still seem functional. Spoilers for Emilie Story Quest, but even after Vijama died, Kirya could still use her Delusion for over the course of 20+ years.
@@theunlikelygenshingamerI reccomend reading on irl mythology of characters in general as they basically spoil alot. Such as Nabu Malikata being named after an akkadian god who introduced language to humanity or how Mavuika is a god of flames who had her flames taken by Maui and given to humanity hinting at her resignation and giving the throne to someone else in the competition, or the comedias typically having the captain have a moment where he’s humbled implying he might be the first fatui harbinger to fail or that he has to resort to allying the new archon with sneznaya as a means of “getting the gnosis”. The multiple stories written out and how they could interact are all very interesting and you dont need spoilers to learn the lore (most times ive been leaked against my will its been very broad lore and the more specific stuff had its writing changed on release drastically changing implications so dont bother with leaks).
@Fuphu you do make a good point. In fact the video I did about names in genshin and how much info they contain. You might like it. I'll probably check out what you said.
Brace yourself don't read if you don't like Leaks... Before Xbalanque became the Pyro Archon he challenged the Pyro Sovereign to a fight and after that he came out victorious and thus became the very First Pyro Archon.
Super interesting that Eli’s will inadvertently halted the “blessing” of an electro vision to the people Of teyvat. Also I think Neuvillette gave Furina more power than usual. Sad she has zero battle experience.
What relevance does this have to the video?The video had nothing to do with what you said and it just shows that some people will hear and read something but speak about completely different from how it was told .
@magallanthepenguin9132 and canonically said he cannot stand the dryness of the desert, I wonder how he's gonna judge Ei out of all the Archons because you know, Zip Zap, electrocharged 🤣
I would not be surprised if he was a Shade, in fact, following the archon twin theory that's been getting popular, he should have a "twin" somewhere, either directly related to him in blood, or otherwise, a copy, a look-alike, something to that effect. The shade of life sounds well suited to Zhongli as well too, as the earth gives rise to life does it not? And some media have shown Zhongli capable of giving life. Some assume his twin would be the shade of death, and is either in Celestia as a captive that's being held hostage to get him to obey the rules similar to what they did to Venti's Vanessa (and their heroes because it looks like Monds is the only Nation who has successfully ascended humans to be gods?), or somewhere where Zhongli wants to go to and save him, that's why he contracted to the Tsaritsa's plans. Just as Venti, capable of yeeting the tallest mountain in Monds into the sea that only its peak remains, second oldest god, wise enough to make an ally of Morax so he does not get offed and his nation gets protected as his neighbor, ALLOWED his gnosis to be taken by a mere not even visioned Harbinger. It does not make sense. I could go on and on of what evidence there is, but the voicelines actually are a main tell to how special our Morax is. One, his lines never changed about the number of gods even when Nahida plucked Rhukka out. When Nahida should have been "one of the original archons", he still stated there were only two left. Another is a voiceline that Keith had that Hoyo deleted and replaced with his now infamous Osmanthus wine line, in case people did not know. It said something to the effect of him not having been back to Celestia in a long while, as if he were BORN there and not in Teyvat below.
Venti didn't allow it, he got weakened to the point where he needed copious amounts of sleep just to sustain himself, he isn't worshipped as he once was so he can no longer maintain that power
I don't think he's an All powerful or strongest in Teyvat Specially in His Second Story Quest i think where he Looks at Celestia after we ask him a Question which is Also where the "Final Contract" have been set in stone which is "Destroying all the Contracts" yet he still didn't Revealed something we ask on that Story Quest and The Seven Dragon Sovereign was the Original Users of the Gnosis Sealed Power like at the Fontaine Story Quest he said "we Cant beat" the All Devouring narwhal and then Right after the Scene of Focalor and Neuvi he said i have gained a certain Streng or something (i just dont remember the specific words he said) and the fact that Zhongli is Trying to escape from Neuvi at that certain event where Furina and Hu tao Met Zhongli is Smiling or Smirking when he found out Neuvi left and return to fontaine or something and in Chess Piece Rook and Queen Have higher Points that Bishop and Knights (Zhongli is Rook and Ventinis Queen im sure Venti is Week because The Anemo Energy inside the Gnosis is Separated to 5 if you go listen to the Quest specially the one where dvalin rescue the Squad after Falling in their Battle
Oh please no 😂 But let's face it, he himself said that gods ''Moral values'' and their virtue stems from what is beneficial to humans (Jadefall's Splendor lore) and that Gods are not intrinsically good or dab as depicted by humans.
@@kevincorso9757 NO!! Imagine the horror of fighting him as a BOSS. A creature with 100% uptime shield with gazillion HP because he's based on HP. Throwing stone spears at you and METEORS that can petrify you. Oh! Don't forget that HE CAN HEAL HIMSELF (c6 Zhongli) so whatever damage you manage to inflict past his shield WILL BE HEALED ANYWAY! So no, please no.
That would be a major twist. Can't say they aren't capable of it though. Looking forward to the Natlan trailer from the live stream in a couple days to see what other hints about the story we can glean.
Raiden riders when i tell them that all the build up for Zhongli's full potential is more than her: (they dont know its a lore based game and story and backstory matters more than feats)
At one point in the rite of parting we make three bottles of perfume, suitable for three different ages of a woman and offer all three to the statue of the geo lord. It is heavily hinted that he once roamed the world in female form as well. I can't help feeling that the old witch Gold is actually one of his incarnations. That's why Gold's perfect vessel project, the homunculus Albedo has geo element. The golden Wolford created by Gold Rhinedottir is also Geo. A stretch, but still curious coincidence
We know that Gold is from Khaenri'ah and is one of the Sinners. We know that shes so powerful, because she used abyssal power. She's not Zhongli. It's like saying that Zhongli is Ningguang, because both are geo and both rule over Liyue.
@velary9355 I agree. Many points disprove this theory, starting with how Zhongli is a God (and since the recent book from Imaginarium theater also emphasis that those which have golden blood are Gods) it cannot be possible since Khaenri'ah whole premise was being a godless nation. There sre many more things we can mention such as how could Celestia give a Gnosis to a Sinner...
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 not only that, if we believe what Dainsleif said in the last quest, the sinners aren't THAT old. Zhongli would have to first become a god around 6 thousand years ago, the an archon around 2 thousand years ago and then go to Khaenri'ah to do his sinnery thing around 550-500 years ago.
You know there is something sus about the 7 anemo slime at Chenyu Vale, this make me think that Celestia might want to replace the current 7 archon, since the current 7 have demon names i would think there is new 7 archon with angel names, that mean Celestia want to reset Teyvat countdown back to zero🤔 are the current Teyvat is a failed experiment🤔
well not really, as it seems. The thread of connection between them is Gold... but it had been debunked that none of those Gods has any relationship with actual gold. Deshret was outed by Taldha and Liloupar for having'' fake gold'' in his sanctuary which consisted of bronze and brass, it even was mentioned in the weapon Dialog of The Desert Sages than even in his time, Deus Auri was the sole God capable of creating gold, Decarabian's lore lasted as far as the end of the Archon war and until then he was known as the god of the storms, and Remus's relationship with Gold was receiving divinations form the Golden bees, moreover he was a God of Sumeru that was chased exiled BY AL AHMAR and none of the lore of the desert mention him particularily...
Who is Zhongli contracted to? Was he the one who “heavenly summoned” Lumine and Aether? Zhongli says he’s over 6000 years old. Teyvat’s is 6000 years old! How old is Zhongli? 6500 years? 10,000 years? 25,000 years? 45,000 years? 🤔🤔🤔He has to know “the truth” of Teyvat’s!
![[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)
I have seen alot of folk talking about how Morax didn't need the gnosis to make mora back before the Archon war and that's true. But he also didn't need the gnosis to protect liyue or to win the all the battles that he did. He caged Osial the first time without it, but then the second time he had to make sure everything was OK before handing over the gnosis. This means that their powers were locked up in the gnosis. It doesn't matter what they could do before the Heavenly Principles locked them into their laws or else they could obviously turn around and rebel. The whole thing about visions proves this too. Being forced to share their power with humans with strong wills is more evidence that there power is not all their own.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer he's just a really old and extremely strong money printing factory 💀
I'm not entirely certain that he isn't ABLE to make anymore Mora after loosing the Gnosis though... I think he's just refusing to make any more as a way to reinforce the ruse that is faking his own death. The illusion would fall apart pretty quickly if people noticed that Mora was continuing to be made/appear after Rex Lapis was supposedly already dead. As far as we know, only the Archons(And Neuvillete who is effectively an Acting Archon), the Adepti(who all serve him), the Fatui (who have a vested interest in staying quiet) and the Traveler know that he's still alive. But if new Mora continued to be Minted, that information would get out REALLY fast, defeating the purpose of faking his death in the first place, whatever his plan is relating to that. So in a sense he actually can't make any more, but not because he lost the physical ability to do so...
Zhongli is like a protagonist of the teyvat who has long past completed his own journey and is now merely playing the role of a spectator witnessing the ongoing change in teyvat without interfering while freeing himself from the constraints of his contracts
I mean they already told us that in the game at the end of his story quests!! He wants to tell the traveler more but he is not at will too
like the journey of simbad from anime called magi... or something
its been long
The fact that zhongli has multiple weapons tells you he had no equal among the 7
Ikr? the dude literally was a killing machine. Even Ei as Kagemusha didnt slaughter quite so much.
He really has no equal. The fact that he's the oldest really speaks for itself.
Raiden has two weapons
@@parrisxsummersso 3 ei's are still weaker than zhongli?
@@ADioSimp her weapons? Who knows. She was able to split like 3 islands in half with one strike with her pole arm and her sword can split dimensions. But zhongli is/was the most powerful archon.
If I remember it well Venti was not in slumber during the Cataclysm, he is been fighting Durin alongside with Dvalin that time
also I highly doubt that Zhongli lost his ability to create gold. He just can't use it openly to make the others think that it has connection to Gnosis. He himself said that mora/gold is his blood so I think it has to be his origin ability not the one that he has gotten when acquired Gnosis
about your question what is Zhongli hiding oh I am pretty sure he hides many many things. I have so many questions. Like the one is it really was Morax who introduced alchemy (according to liyue domain descriptions), also about his origins. He has so many powers, like dreamwalking, creating pocket domains - and sharing this knowledge was a part of Illumination of adepti. Still most mysterious character imo. After Simulanka I am 99% sure that we will get that black mountain expansion zone down below Liyue. I really hope we can get some more info about Zhongli then
Venti was in slumber during the Cataclysm. According to the book Breeze Amidst The Forest, it was said that the prayers of the Mondstadt people awoke Barbatos from his slumber after Rostam and Arundolyn had fallen, leading to no one strong enough to fight Durin, so their prayers were heard and Venti awoke, calling Dvalin to help fight against Durin
Nope, Venti was in fact sleeping during the Cataclysm, it was just that, according to the book Breeze Amidst The Forest, Venti awoke from the prayers of the people of Mondstadt to defend against Durin
@@GriffonoficationIf you're really interested in Zhongli and haven't already, I would recommend Ashikai to you. She's got a few videos and streams where she talks about him. Most are theories, but then she has pointed out stuff I never even noticed like for instance; why is it that he's the only Archon with a statue holding a square while all others are holding spheres? She mentions Chinese cosmology in where heaven is circular and earth is a square.
babe wake up another zhongli lore video dropped
If you know some Chinese, you might find the name Zhongli very interesting. The original Chinese characters are 钟 (zhong) and 离 (li). The character 钟(Zhong) = 钅 (Gold) + 中(China), and the 离(li) = 璃(Liyue) - 王(Lord/king).
Additionally, 钟 (zhong) means 'clock' and shares the same pronunciation with the word 'final', this is associated with death in Chinese culture. And 离 (li) means 'leave' or 'depart.', the combination means "time to leave/final end (of a life)".
The name intriguingly encapsulates his story in Liyue.
Furthermore, Zhongli is a rarely used family name, not a full name. We still don't know his full name. In 2500 years ago in Chinese history, there was a lord named Zhongli, and his wife was called '无盐,' where '盐' means salt, '无' means without/loss, which connects to the story of the god of salt.
Wow that's so interesting! I love how so much of this games lore is hidden all over the place. I feel like we lorist are playing a game with the story and lore developers, where in they hide things just for us to find and expound on. After all what's the fun in hiding secrets if there is no one to challenge to find them🙂
Thanks for the cool info😁
@@theunlikelygenshingamer Yes!! There are many more examples like this. For example the Chinese name of his elemental burst, '天星' (Tianxing), it can mean 'Meteor from the sky,' but it also refers to a Chinese steelyard balance, an artifact used for measurement. '天星' represents the marks on the steelyard that indicate measurement units, symbolizing concepts 'contracts,' and 'measurement'.
Sorry god of salt is not his wife and not related at all because god of salt got killed by his own ppl because they don't want to see he/her suffering
Guizhong is a god of dust
Not salt
@@star_lordz2401 You missed the point. They did not say that Havria was Morax's wife. They said there was a king of china named Zhongli, and her wife's name contained a word that meant Salt.
@@justsomeguywithgreenhair he doesn't have a wife in the first place
Well no. Zhongli still has the ability to create mora. He just didn't because he said he wants to live like a human so he must follow the laws/rules of being human. So no mora creating. It's also said that when Zhongli taught the Liyue people how to create houses, he used pure mora as materials for the model, that's before archon war started.
But why is it said that mora is minted by the geo gnosis in the archon quest?
@@drhighh gnoses are designed to mimic respective archon's power.
@Cudoviste24 I believe the Gnosis is said to be able to mint Mora, but ultimately, mora came from Zhongli's very flesh and blood. Mora exists before the assignment of Gnosis to the 7 winners.
@@drhighh it's not. it was used in the context of Zhongli "not being the geo archon" anymore because he doesn't have a Gnosis anymore.
but wait, the video didn't even claim so. did you just say this out of reflex xD
Zhongli is one of most interesting character in genshin,he is so mysterious and i hope to see nore lore drop on him.
You have one of the best voices and narratives of any Genshin lore content creator.
I do agree, they should sign up to read books in Audible, I'd definitely listen.
ikr!! and the script??? the words be wording 👏👏👏
Okay so, there's too many misconception to Zhongli's ability to create Mora. Short answer: he never said he needed the Gnosis to do that. He NEVER once said that. The Liyue Archon quest specifically said that the Golden House needed the
He still has the geo authority so makes sense.
@@devilofgreed760 Nothing to do with the Geo Authority. Mora was already created long BEFORE the Archon Wars. It most likely even existed during the war between Heavenly Principles and the Second Who Came which resulted in the creation of the Gnosis and the start of the Archon Wars. The Archon Wars ended only 2000 years ago, Liyue Harbour was founded 3700 years ago and Zhongli has lived for 6000 years. He even had his own established civilisation prior to Guili Assembly and Liyue Harbour.
@@devilofgreed760Read the Prithiva Topaz Gemstone description, it’s specifically about Zhongli himself. Gold is his innate power because that’s what he’s made of
I see Zhongli i click. Your video is sooo soothing. It's calming, just Like Zhongli. I dont care if there are more powerful gameplay character, i just love Zhongli
Thank you so much, and I'm delighted you enjoyed 😊
When I think of Zhongli and would measure his power outta 10 I’d say 10 or higher. Mans just trying to live a peaceful life now and had enough war in his life.
I really liked your idea about the Tsaritsa having a plan to free the Archons and fool the Heavenly Principals, similar to Focalars. One thing that has always bugged me the entire time I have played Genshin was that at the start, they show Fatui as bad guys. They steal the Gnosis, but we basically learn after the first few chapters that the Archons are ok with it happening, but also the Fatui are still treated as the bad guys, which just didnt make sense to me. Either the Archons are ok with them or should be fighting them to keep it right? But if its all one big plan to trick Celestia, then that makes sense. They dont really care if it happens, but they have to pretend like they are. That could lead to some crazy events soon! Especially if Zhongli is as old and special as we think. Maybe he predates the dragons and other gods and was involved with the Primordial Ones and the Shades or something.
I believe the Gnosis are a way for the Heavenly Principles to keep the Archons under check, that is why they gave it to them.
Another thing to note, is that the Gnosis may be a net negative to a god. Neuvillette was told that Gnosis bears a curse from the death of the Third Descender, and he gave it away at the first opportunity, like it was a hot potato. Archons bear the burden of the gnosis, because nobody else could. So when Tsaritsa volunteered to take them all, most archons did not think much about it.
Still, it is clear that people like Nahida and Zhongli know about Tsaritsa's plan, and are fine with it. And most of the Fatui would give their lives for that plan. Whatever the plan it, it's going to be awesome. Unless Hoyoverse mess it up, but I think they have what it takes to pull it off.
@@kotarouinugami1745 oh wow ya thats a great thought, i forgot about it being a curse. Makes even more sense they are fine with getting rid of them and really makes you wonder what the Tsaritsa is up to. Im so excited to see what happens in Natlan and then Snezhnaya after that. I think Natlan will have something else happen with the Gnosis too, because if they Fatui get it and have all 7 like it has happened in the other nations, then we would have to wait a year to see what the Tsaritsa's plan is even though she has everything. Feels like that would be a little bit odd and lose some of the hype. My crackhead theory is we get the Gnosis and use that to become the Pyro Traveler Archon Sovereign w/e u wanna call it lol. Then we could meet up next year with the Tsaritsa and figure it out.
@@kotarouinugami1745 I wonder whats going to happen with fontaine hydro gnosis? Is tsaritsa going to fight neuvillete to get it or is neuvillette going to give it to her?
@@gamingglee2538 Neuvillette gave the hydro gnosis to Arlecchino at the end of the Fontaine main quest.
Was that a spoiler, or did you just miss it?
The mystery of the archon war is core to the whole zhongli storyline, and likely we'll only get snippets in next years lantern right when we may get madam ping as a playable character.
Some people say guizhong was the god of chenyu vale but I think it's far more sinister. I think that an enormous amount of godlike entities were subjugated and mind controlled if you will and were forced to fight against their friends. This is why zhongli was forced to do as he did as there was NO cure except maybe the destruction of the one who started it and zhong could never get to them.
Xiao knows firsthand what it's like to be controlled in this manner as he was freed from one of these "dark gods". When the "new war" yae miko and EI talk about comes I think a number of these old entities that escaped to the dark sea will return with their minions. Probably at a similar time that durin is resurrected.
The time from when the "second who came" arrived , the apocalypse and the archon war is key to our understanding and we dont know much yet.
Playable Madame Ping is such a meme I cannot believe that it doesn't sound that impossible anymore
@@serezelveydawn We got a playable Birb... Never doubted A SECOND we're gonna get a playable Ping after Keqing said in the first lantern rite that ''She can take any form she wants''
Neuvillette calls the Gods "Fragments" in a certain voiceline, so it is possible that the Gods inherited the Primordial One's fragments of power.
Since we know that the Creator is no more, we can assume that the smaller gods are all shards of the Primordial One and that the Archon War was basically all Gods going Highlander.
But as Liyue showed us, consuming Gods' remains often drive people mad or make them sick, Mortals and Gods alike.
@bonk78624 Nope, Neuvillette never specified if these fagments of the "primordial" meant the Gods or the Shades... Matter of fact and you might be surprised that he potentially would have been talking about the Dragons because when the dragons talk about Phanes they NEVER call him the "primordial" but rather the "usurper".
So careful with this one.
My guess is, there is only one power dangerous enough to control gods and turn friends into foes. It's the Abyssal Corruption, and we've seen it turn Dvalin into Stormterror.
HA, well made Video. I am slowly beginning to think many don't take his age and his story into heart at all; it was a very good elaboration on the countless things this Individual has witnessed, done and influenced, the God of Gold.
As to those in the comments, speaking of ithis video, elaborating, debunking those that do not know what they are talking about, PREACH! it is rare to find those that actually invest into his lore and story, while at the same time theorising. I feel proud that this topic of discussion was not yet discarded and is still as interesting to talk about as ever.
Thank you very much, viewers like you keep this fun and engaging. 😁
True, it's the first time I meet a Zhongli lore video in ENG that doesn't have a million of misconceptions.
Ikr. It really felt great to see people with common sense. I gained back a brain cell.
zhongli will always be the strongest idc what anyone says
Until Goku shows up
Why so simp for zongli ....aether and lumine would stomp him
@@RocksDxebeC-07 yet all of them are Goku Victims
Are you saying he is...... stronger than the...
PRIMORDIAL ONE A PROGENITOR GOD HAILING FROM BEYOND THE STARS??
MAN ZHONGLI GETS CLAPPED MY GUY
@@RocksDxebeC-07traveler can't really fight without other people's help 😭
I think Zhongli does know what Tsaritsa is planning. I think his contract with her is to protect Liyue and it's people. He also didn't end every enemy in Liyue. He sealed Azhdaha to stop him from destroying Liyue and it's people. I hope they don't try making Zhongli the scapegoat "villian" to Teyvet.
Exactly!! That's what I observed. He also sealed Osial and its wife, which to me was weird since Osial was a huge problem to Liyue before... Kinda suspicious.
Didn't they say killing a god can cause disaster on the Surrounding area causing plagues and miasma
@@donkey_mediocre7246 Yes! That would mean that he chose the safest option for the people and nation. I also think that in the case of Azhdaha; he didn't want to end his friend. Just my take on it though.
Amazing video as always ! just one thing I wan to point out, Zhongli DID NOT in fact lose the Ability to make Gold, it's Liyue that lost it. The reason why he doesn't create it for himself is simple : it would be unfair for him, living as a human amonsgt human society to make gold whereas other humans have to work hard to earn it.
It's the whole point of calling him Deus Auri and the lore of the Diolog of the Desert Sages, creating gold is an innate capability of Deus Auri, much like him being the Prime of Adepti, it has seldom to do with his title as an Archon or the Gnosis, since much like Deshret, Morax didn't wish for dominion and had no interest in the throne in the first place, and the first house in Liyue was made form a model cast from Gold, A WHILE BEFORE the Archon war even ended, he neither lost his Adeptal powers nor his ability to create Gold. Another point, Zhongli's namecard reads 天星 or Heavenly Star, and his TCG card (which is canonically created by the Hexenzerkiel) reads : ''A hidden gemstone can illuminate the whole earth, bright and unrivaled as a star.'' which makes sense, since IRL Gold is a star-born ore that can only and exclusively be created in extreme cosmic events, which throws us back to what Albedo said about Gold...
Also please check out the SUMMIT SHAPER LORE... it might give us an insight of what _the contract to end all contracts_ is probably about.
I've been seeing a number of people say this and I'm wondering we're it came from. Zhongli in fact does keep many secrets. But it's not a secret that there are certain divine abilities that the Archons have that they lose when lodi g their gnosis like the Nahida’s in ability to power the Akasha anymore.
Zhongli in fact said that he did not make a stash for himself before surrendering the gnosis which Paimon berated him for. But he has actually lost the ability a part of the exchange that he was well aware would happen. This is further proven by the fact that Regrator who runs the Northland Bank and was also operating in Liyue, (that's how Yelan stole his gift to the Tsaritsa). His goal is to take away the enterprise of money making from the Archon of Gold who, he believed should never have had it. It's clear that Zhongli lost a great deal of power when he gave it away because it's why he had to be sure he could still save them if Liyue couldn't manage.
His life blood is gold because he did create it but knowingly bargained away that and other powers in exchange for some as of now unknown equally valuable trade.
Just like Nahida did for unprecedented knowledge.
As for his ability to make it before, it's very likely that rather than give the Archons more power when they won the war,their existing abilities where bound up in the gnosis. That's how Celestia keeps them in there place.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer Yes the reason why people say that is because, it's a fact. It's all about the wording, I think it was much clearer in other versions than in the ENG localisation but even in the said version it's just a matter of wording at best. Zhongli never claimed he lost HIS ability to create Mora, or Gold, he said that the house of mint will cease operation because the Gnosis is gone. Moreover, regarding HIMSELF he also said in the dialog.
Paimon: But why would Morax lack Mora?
Zhongli: As the Rex Lapis Morax, I can easily create Mora. But since I have *CHOSEN* to walk this earth as the mortal Zhongli, I *should abide by the same rules that mortals* do.
Creating Mora in the Golden House requires the use of the Geo Archon's power, and not the Gnosis particularly, so it's more of a matter of since the Archon is ''dead'', no Mora can be created.
Paimon: That's right! Zhongli, now that you don't have your Gnosis, what's going to happen to all the Mora in Teyvat?
Paimon: Since Morax is "dead," are they all just gonna disappear?
Paimon: Also, isn't the Golden House the only mint in the entire continent? Will it even continue to work?
Zhongli: The Mora present now will not vanish. But the Golden House will indeed have to cease operations for a lengthy period of time, since creating Mora requires the use of the Geo Archon's power.
Historically, the power to create gold was always in his possession even before the creation of Liyue, and the Prithiva Topaz Gemstone stated (as well as Paimon before and in Genshin's anniversary trivia bits more recently) that Gold was his FLESH AND BLOOD, and casted from HIS DEVINE BODY, and what he handed over was the Gnosis and NOT HIS divine Abilities or his divine blood. Even Neuvilette's insight tells us that before gaining the Authority of Geo, he was DEUS AURI, or the god of gold [...] which won't make sense if it wasn't an ability of his, as explained in various sources such as the Pethriva Gemstone, his Story quest, Dialog of the Desert Sages, himself, Neuvilette ....
And when you mention the Akasha System and also I would add the Oratrice and collecting Idemtitium, and the Electro Gnosis with control over weather, it's a similar case, THIS IS WHAT THE GNOSIS DOES, all are cases of DIVINE ABILITIES AUTOMATED/ENHANCED or DELEGATED with the use of the Gonsis. which is EXACTLY how Neuvillette described it. When the Akasha was shut down, it didn't make Nahida lose her powers over dreams did she ? and when Ei disposed of her Gnosis to Miko, lore still told us that she controlled the weather in Inazuma 🤷♂ well it's the same thing.
And if you want to go even further, if the Gnosis was in fact what allows him to create Gold, the creation of Mora would have simply moved to Snezhnaya and not be ceased, and we know for fact now that the harbingers could NOT create gold, since in the Fortress of Meropide they were attempting to test a new ''currency'' which are the coupons.
Also the last part of your comment doesn't make sense given that what the Archons got from Celestia was the authority and the Gnosis, and it has NEVER been mentioned in lore that she took whatever form them, I think the relationship between Celestia and the Archons is a bit misunderstood... It also leads to a belittling of the Archon's own powers and Abilities. Archons represent the mandated entities that exerce the rule of Celestia over Teyvat, the auxiliaries between humans and heavens since the ultimate goal is to harvest something from humans by channeling the powers THROUGHT the Archons, and even more Zhongli (and Nahida )since his Adeptal powers have a direct effects over the powers of nature as observed in Chenyu Vale (and her powers over dreams consequently). What ''keeps archons in check'' already was mentioned by Scylla, it's them being ''cursed'' with the LOVE OF HUMANITY, and funnily enough it was always the case, since Archons were not always the most powerful Gods, but conveniently those who won this title were the ones who cared about humanity the dearest. So Celestia NEEDS the Archons, and RELAYS on their love of humanity to keep them on check, therefore she doesn't need to take anything from them, otherwise they could have done it with so many gods before.
I'm confused. where did the video say he can't create Gold anymore? did I miss it?
@The_Painful_Realist Yeah towards the end, the last paragraph. Check the timestamp on the description 👍
My understanding of this claim from doing so much digging on this topic is that Morax has always had to ability to create gold/mora, but the gnosis simply "amplified" that ability so that he could create LOTS of it, enough to circulate all of Teyvat and be used as the primary currency. He's had the ability to create gold/medium since the early days of the archon war, before the 7 archons ever received their gnosis.
As you pointed out, Zhongli was around at the very beginning of Teyvat. I have a theory that he is actually one of the shades of the Primordial One - the shade of death. I just find it very interesting that of all things, when he decides to 'live as a mortal' he gets a job working for a funeral parlor. He is certainly intimately acquainted with death, as he has dealt more of it than probably any other being in Teyvat's history, with as long as he has lived. I also find it rather telling that of all the beings that were alive at that time, only he is still around.
There are lots of theories about the shades and their identities. Some say they are the 3 moon sisters and the sun, some say they are individual entities different from the moon sisters. But one thing is certain , at least 3 of the shades have dominion over time and space . Istaroth is said to be the God of Moments,not of time. Moments are parts of time . Ei's 2nd story quest further supports this . Istaroth is associated with wind and birds and death. In an interview, the genshin developers said that the artefacts are inspired by tarot cards,and so far, Istaroth aligns with the tarot card that represents death and wind. Its just a theory, but considering the repeating themes and coincidences , it doubt that they are just coincidences. My point is that Istaroth is better suited for the Shade of Death than Morax is.
@@kyl4dya lots of fun but wrong theories
@zoro2082 Theories are just speculations that can only be wrong once proven wrong, so no, all theories about the shades that have a solid base are not wrong until proven otherwise.
In terms of Hoyoverse multiverse, this makes me think that Zhongli is the Teyvat version of Nanook the Destruction from HSR especially with how both have many gold motifs and caused much destruction in their wake.
@eclipsor7080 Nanook is not an expy and is not important enough to get an expy. Cool theory, though.
THE STRONGEST ARCHON
You are so so underrated i caught you by accident --- you're on my fyp --- and oh gosh the way you connect the lore and narrate it perfectly is chefs kiss
Also Tevyat is most definitely way older than 6000 years, 6k years is how long Zhongli dwelt in Tevyat, not his actual age btw
True, becuz he appeared around 6k yrs ago. Making him 6k+ yrs old. Since we truly don't know where he descend or came from.
I'm a simple woman who loves Zhongli very much! So i see a theory about him, i click and watch!
I do recall a theory about him being a possible shade. There's also that weird thing about the shape he holds in comparison to the other Archon statues... like why does he hold a cube unlike the rest? Theres also the line he said about the contract with Celestia, saying how it was signed before it all began. I wonder the timeline of that contract 🤔 i think there's a line in the geo ascension material that Zhongli’s yet to say as well, calling mora, or something that i can't remember, the blood of Tevyat. That has some implications as well as to his identity imo
Chinese culture often emphasizes the importance of money and power. Zhongli, a character in Genshin Impact, embodies both wealth and immense power as a powerful archon. The intriguing questions are: How powerful is he really? Why did he enter into contracts with Celestia? Could these contracts be designed to limit his power, or is there another reason?
Considering that Zhongli made these contracts even before the creation of Teyvat and that Liyue represents China, it’s reasonable to believe he should be the strongest character in Teyvat. However, it seems that miHoYo might be downplaying this fact.
The strongest character in Tevyat is whomever controls Celestia, otherwise Zhongli wouldn't have been doing their bidding
There's so much hype about his lore, now imagine hoyo crushes that like they've always been doing
Zhongli may be a grandpa, but I do believe he knows what the Tsaritsa is up to, someone who can entice a ruthless warlord who has been questioning oneself, must have a plan truly worthy of the support of a truly ancient and well respected god
A small correction, zhongli hasn't lost the ability to create mora, zhongli never required the gnosis to make mora,
He got the gnosis 2600 years ago, he made the first mora, and the golden house 3700 years ago, beforre the war even began, and it's stated in mora description that mora is his flesh and blood too
So the gnosis connection was either a wrong judgement by paimon, or he himself lied to aether and paimon
Another thing is that he never denies knowing about lumine's travels, he says he can't say anything because of a contract, so a contract that stands above his contract with the tsarita to end all contracts
Also, something to think is that the devine thrones give archons the power to use the elements, but zhongli has shown absolute authority over the element of geo before he received the devine throne, having formed many of the mountains, and all of guyun stone forest, so who is he really?
Alot of these came from one assumption that he's as old as the world itself but Moonlit Bamboo Forest said that when the Three Moon Sisters died, Rex Lapis is still young meaning he couldn't be that old comparing to Egeria who had been created from the beginning of the creation of the world.
Also Deshret and Remus died in the Archon War but more of self-inflicted rather than actual losing a battle to someone else.
In Zhongli's story quest 2, Its Zhongli himself said he would have not had a chance to confront Azhdaha, let alone sealing him, if the Dragon didn't have any good will left in him. And this is a dragon without its authority. Showing Dragon Sovereigns are still far more powerful than even the strongest Archons.
I agree, also when it comes to the Fontaine storyline, we learned Neuvilette without the power of Focalors was as strong as an Archon, and only when he absorbed the power of the hydro Archon did he become a full dragon. That means that a full dragon has power worth two Archons of the same element.
NO, so many things to be corrected in your statement. Deshret didn't die in the Archon war my dear. he was still alive when [Redacted] ascended to Archonhood after he refused the seat himself. And neither Remus did because he founded Remuria AFTER the fall of Gurabad.
Moonlioght bamboo forest is written in a human PoV, it's to be taken with a grain of salt.
Moreover the newer lore makes it look like he is, actually older than we assume, given than, form Xianyun's lore and story of Chenyu Vale, Adepti existed before Gods came into beign, and for someone who is supposed to be the Ancestor of the Adepti, it just doesn't make sense for him to be that young, which further straighten the theory that when he said he DWELLED upon this land for more than 6000 years, he actually means dwelling and not living. Moreover ''young'' for an adeptus is relative. Both Ganyu and Xiao are ''young'' Adepti and still they're both several millennia old. Moreover, form a cultivation standpoint, at the point when he was still considered young by the bamboo forest book, we know that Rex Lapis had a PHENOMENAL force when he landed upon Teyvat, given that when he descended he already was powerful enough to raise a lot of the now Liyue territory form under the sea floor. none of the now ''young'' nor "mighty and illuminated'' Adepti possess such power, given that cultivation, in Daoist logic, is accumulating spiritual energy through cultivation and time.
The encounter with Azhdaha is full of misconceptions. Given that Azhdaha said himself that Zhongli was in fact the strongest, it's THE WILL to subdue Azhdaha that he lacked (as what I understood from the CN text) and NOT the power. Azhdaha's will to serve humanity and his memories of his allies were dimming, and when Zhongli talks about him ''willingly be sealed'' it means that it was as agreed upon, it's not that he was ''holding back'' but he deeply knew that what Rex Lapis was doing was hard on him too, but he had to do it, even the *Developer Insight* clearly supports that the victory of Rex Lapis was UNCONTESTABLE, but it was a great loss for him, he even shared some of his mastery with him to save him from erosion which people tend t forget, and even ''not having his full authority'' doesn't mean Azhdaha was weak, he still commanded the leylines and drew power from them, matter of fact, Zhongli's way of dealing with the dragon (sealing him AWAY from the Leylines) only makes him more suspicious.
@citoyenneteavanttout7273 this was so well said. Thank you, you definitely know your lore 😁
@APerls Neuvilette without the power of Focalors was as powerful as an Archons ? when was that even stated ? You can't even compare Focalors to other Archon when she had said authority given that, she has no feats... well, her predecessor, Egeria, died during the cataclysm and was so corrupted she couldn't even resurrect nor anchor her consciousness 🤦♂ and Focalors was merely an oceanid when the likes of Zhongli and Ei were uncontestably powers of nature before gaining any authority 🙃CHILL with your HC y'all.
Moreover, where do you get those numbers ? half of not half WHAT ? you seem to forget that Archons, well typically Zhongli and Ei, were the peak of their elemental mastery BEFORE gaining any authority to begin with ? not even mentioning that they have powers of their own that has nothing to do with elemental powers (Zhongli being the prime of Adepti) Y'all tend to forget that the power of the Archons does not only stem form whatever their authority is... this is called recency bias.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer haha thank you very much ! I also want to thank you for bringing up so many of the details you mentioned in the video into light, it's a great deal of effort and so many people are unaware of them so I couldn't be thankful enough 🙏 you have my utmost respect !
I don't mean to point this out but he doesn't need the Gnosis to create Mora. Mora had already existed long before even the Archon Wars. Prior to the Guili Assembly, Morax already established his own civilisation so it's no surprise this is how he taught his people to trade. Mora was created from his own flesh and blood, not the Gnosis. The Gnosis was only used to mint which is two different things. It's why at the end of the Liyue Archon Quest, he said that the financial situation is something the Qixing must figure out on their own even as the Golden House has stopped working. He even stated that he could still create Mora but he just wanted to live as the mortal Zhongli and thus live by the rules of mortals. The entire segments where he and the Traveler goes to buy items was a way for him to practice.
This does not mean to say he is lacking of money. Don't forget that as the Consultant of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour, he is paid quite handsomely. During Havria's quest, when the Fatui hired him as Consultant, he even said that he would pay him handsomely. Zhongli is also a lecturer and is the most revered in Wangsheng. So yes, this boi is not only swimming in money but if he really wanted to, he could just make more Mora.
The Alchemical Magnum Opus represents Zhongli's journey pretty well. Nigredo represents his datk origins where he witnessed the Fall Of The Seelies, Albedo represents the time of peace where he ruled the Guili Assembly, Rubedo represents the Archon War where he drowned civilizations in Blood and finally Citrinitas where he found perfection in his ways that Guizhong always wanted him to realise.
I agree that zhongli has a bigger role to play, considering he is lord of liyue/China, it is just fitting to make him a hero if not big player of the game.
Btw, Zhongli's "Altered" voice line about the seven is yes, altered, but he still only confirms himself and Venti as the original 2. Not including Nahida even though Rukka deleted herself. His story quest when he places the Salt Goddess's relics in the ocean also depicts he knows history can be changed and altered. He knew of the Traveler's immunity of "forgetting" events like in Sumeru. Hence, he's knows of the Descenders.
if zhong li was from teyvat, nahida could know everything he knows, including his secrets, cause they would be into irminsul now that his gnosis is not in his hands anymore, so the "contract" he had taht wouldn't allow him to share his secrets to the world, is now broken.
@FilippoBonora THAT....
If Zhongli was in fact not immune to Irminsul tempering, in a way or another, his "contract" to keep silence would be useless. Why silence somebody when you can alter their memory in the first place ?
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273
sorry for the spelling error and any other grammar error you found in my comment, i am not a native speaker. and to answer your question, the problem is that the informations zhong li had were never in irminsul in the first place. and the heavenly principles can't control irminsul, cause is native from teyvat and they are not, so they cannot alter someones memory nor cancel them completely from irminsul.
@@FilippoBonora please do not aplogize ! I am not a native speaker either don't worry and what you wrote is both reasonable and correct !
..I don't think Nahida can read the minds of just *anyone* that is in irminsul. Dottore is from Teyvat, he's in Irminsul, so how did he know stuff Nahida did not? How do the Fatui have info Nahida doesn't if she just knows everything about them?
>Runs from a blue sea otter
Very nicely done! Excited to watch your other videos. I agree and think the Tsaritsa is collecting the gnosis to revive the third decender.
People always underestimate archon,Egeria could still save Fontaine if it weren't for the rule,Neuvillette was the only last resort because he isn't affected by the rule,Archon are powerful enough to do thing themselves, the only problem is the rule. And Zhongli being the most powerful among other original archon is obvious, he is China God and genshin is Chinese game,so people should give up on the idea of Zhongli is weaker than the sovereign, we already seeing how biased Hoyo are toward Liuye. The only reason original archon died was because of the abyss corruption rather than some body else. Even sovereign failed to master the power of abyss and died to Celestia
Zhongli still full of mysteries
If you know some Chinese, you might find the name Zhongli very interesting. The original Chinese characters are 钟 (zhong) and 离 (li). The character 钟(Zhong) = 钅 (metal/gold) + 中(China), and the 离(li) = 璃(Liyue) - 王(Lord/king).
Additionally, 钟 (zhong) means 'clock' and shares the same pronunciation with the word 'final, and 离 (li) means 'leave' or 'depart.', the combination means "time to leave/final end"
The name intriguingly encapsulates his story.
Furthermore, Zhongli is a rarely used family name, not a full name. We still don't know his full name. In 2500 years ago in Chinese history, there was a lord named Zhongli, and his wife was called '无盐,' where '盐' exactly means salt, which connects to the story of the god of salt.
I think he's the remnant of the primordial one the first to have arrived at Teyvat. That would make him be linked to Teyvat as it's creator, so hes not seen as an outsider but he also would keep his memories outside Irmingsul's control. And if he is the god of gold, and that's the color asociated with Celestia and the Travelers, it could make some sense. And the first contract he signed, that's the one enslaving him in Teyvat's rules, is probably the one he signed when he lost Celestia to the second who came. What do you think?
Nope, the Primordial One is counted as a descender
In 3+ years this game feels like a chore pretty much but i stick around for the lore i want to see how's gonna end
Zhongli's body count XDDDD it's funny coz I used to think body count means how many people' someone has killed... Then I realised it's "in bed with" later in 2024 .. it's crazy
Best thing is it can be used both ways simultaneously 🤣
To be fair who knows what they had been cooking in that hot and steamy Taishan mansion amarite 😏🤣
Largest killcount out of all the Archons. Prime Zhongli is untouchable.
"The longest reigning entity in Teyvat besides the Heavenly Principles"
Wouldn't that technically be Apep, who as the Original Dendro Dragon Sovereign, has been around even longer than the Heavenly Principles?
@Aidan_Yao Yeah I think they are talking aboit Teyvat as we know it, because after the arrival of PO the dragons were reigning on nothing. And if you wanna consider that, Azhdaha also and not only Apep, given that he's canonically older than mountains and seas as well.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 Not sure about Azhdaha - it seems that he just respawned with old memories, like Neuvillette. Even if he is the Sovereign - not everybody agrees on that.
@@kotarouinugami1745Neuvillette did not respawn with memories, though. He only got them back upon getting his powers back.
@@aduckonaplane3816 I was under impression that he had some of his memories from early on, but got much more memories when he restored his full strength.
I do not claim to be knowledgeable about Neuvillette, though.
Zhongli literally arrived on teyvat 6000 years ago in the golden chariot landing in the chasm. Cbt1 voicelines had zhongli being reminiscent of celestia. He is either one of the shades or some other important figure banished or some other reason arrived on teyvat. Thats why he is the god of contracts because he literally cant say anything. People are literally underestimating him because hoyo doesnt reveal a lot for the gods who lived longer like zhongli and venti.
A few things you forgot to mention and i can fill in.
Zhongli was considered to be a brute and only know to resolve things with violence. Thats why Mercy was never associated with him.
After he met Guizhong he started slowly to change .
The people of Guizhong always said He was the Brawn and she was the Brain of their partnership.
Thats how Guili Plains was named after them. Gui-Guizhong / li-Zhongli.
Morax after the death of Guizhong went in a blind rage back to his former self. Slaughtering everyone that dared opposing him or betrayed him.
I am glad you mentioned the Jade Cutter, thats the most important item that defines Zhongli's relationship with Guizhong.
The part regarding the Gnosis, the Gnosis is not their power, its their Authority. Basically showing who is the supreme ruler of that region.
During the Archon War his body count was the highest but he was not an Archon then, his power is his specifically not borrowed from Celestia.
When he met Guizhong he wasnt an Archon he was an Adepti/God .
A very easy way to notice him actually faking his weakness is when he fought Azhdaha and Azhdaha mentioned he couldve killed him but he chose not to. Zhongli tries to say he couldnt because even last time he needed the help of the Adepti to seal him,meanwhile Azhdaha told him if he actually wanted to he couldve without any issues.
Another 1 that shows he has his powers fully is the moment when we try to Escape the Chasm Labyrinth with Xiao and Xiao was ready to die for us.
Morax was always aware of what we were doing and just when he saw their is no alternative he jumped inside the distorted dimension and rescued him like it was nothing and left without us even noticing he just saved Xiao from certain Death.
A side note.
Venti and Morax we know for sure are friends that constantly bicker but i have the feeling Zhongli doing all that part with leaving Liyue in their own hands and him taking a more outsider's view perspective just gives me the vibe he addapted completely Venti's rule.
Let the people decide their own fate and only if imminent peril is bound to happen, thats when he will intervenne.
This is my theory from what ive read so far in the game about Morax.
Have a nice day ^_^
I'm sorry but Zhongli was not a brute. Nor did he change just because of Guizhong. The Adepti follow him because of his Compassion and love for humans. He had to wear the mask of unmovable visage which meant that he could not allow his guard to falter and continue wearing a firm and cold expression to keep his people safe. When the dust settled is literally an old English phrase that has been used for a long time that means once a situation has calm down which in this case means the end of the Archon War. It has nothing to do with Guizhong. Also, he NEVER faked fighting Azhdaha. You misunderstood his meaning, Zhongli came to him as a friend and not as an assassin. What he couldn't do that day was ask one of his most dearest old friend to be sealed. How many times has Zhongli sealed away an old friend? Of course it would be hard on him.
If you read Xianyun's lore, it is clearly stated that the 'values and compassion of Morax, the God of Contracts, won him the favor of Cloud Retainer and the other adepti, and so they followed him into battle.' He had always been a compassionate God! Don't forget that the Adepti had long existed before the word 'Liyue' even existed and they followed him. That speaks volumes of his character.
Also, we already know why Zhongli left Liyue in the hands of his people. It's literally told to us in the Liyue Archon Quest and even again during this year's Lantern Rite when the theme is about parents letting go of their children. He is literally Liyue's Parent. He cared for them, nurtured them and protected them all these years all because he loves thems which isn't because of Guizhong by the way. It's even in his trailer.
'This is an age of Gods and Monsters, I wish not for dominion, yet I cannot watch the common folk suffer.'
😭😭😭😭
@@ChainedThoughts its stated literally and in Guili plains lore about his attitude before meeting Guizhong and in the jade cutter lore how he literally made a genocide after Guizhong's death, did you completely miss that lore?.
He was never a compassionate God, he was a righteous God. He punished even former friends that broke contracts, its stippulated in Jade cutter lore once again.
@@cris9485 Which was already debunked that Soraya was biased when it came to Guizhong and Morax. Read Xianyun's story. It literally states he is compassionate. He is fair and just. Of course he would abide by the contracts. He is the God of Contracts and it was during the time of war. Liyue had the highest number of Gods who threatened the safety of his people. Doesn't make him any less compassionate. Also he never committed genocide. Zhongli very deeply cares for his people even long before meeting Guizhong. He never wanted to join the fight, he only did so to protect his people. His people even built him a mansion yet he refused because he wanted to live close to them. You keep telling me one lore and I'm giving you a counter argument with added lore that proves he was not a brute. Not only that Eng translations take so much out of context and change the meanings for the past 4 going into 5 years. I play in Chinese and so much is wrongly translated.
@@ChainedThoughts true Zhongli didn't want to fight. If I'm not mistaken it's because of the Goddess of Salt's death that he became determined to fight.
@@jadepuguon1177 It really isn't because of Havria. As I have stated earlier, it's in his trailer. He fought for his people. He literally says this in his trailer. Havria's death is true for a lot of Gods who could not protect their people and the point of the quest was to show how easily history can be changed which is why Traveler's role as witness was important.
"I wish not for dominion, but I cannot watch the common folk suffer."
I don't know why this is so difficult to understand.
I always laugh when people think Neuvillette would beat Zhongli.
First of all, there is a pretty big chance Zhongli himself is the Geo Sov, and even if not, he's still a 5000 year old killing machine, idc how powerful Neuvillette is, Zhongli isn't going down in a 1 on 1 fight where he can fully unleash.
The reason he avoided Neuvillette is because he doesn't want to have to fight, much less someone who could maybe make him fight for real, that would only destroy half of Liyue which is not something he wants.
And I'm not saying Neuvillette is not strong. He is the Hydro Sov after all, but I do not believe or accept for one second he could defeat Zhongli or even Raiden. What he has in raw power they both have in thousands of years of battle prowess and amassing reserves of power.
I have a personal theory that Zongli is actually the Ancient Soverign Dragon of Geo... The idea is that he made a Deal/contract with the Primordial One to betray the other Dragons in exchange for keeping his "Sovereign seat". It's not like "Traitor Dragons" are an unheard of thing either, Dvalin willingly serves Venti after all(And is most likely a Sovereign Dragon himself, considering he's supposed to have had greater control over the winds than even the "Thousand Winds" herself(Istaroth, a Primordial shade) before he was poisoned by Abyssal poison during the calamity).
There's a few reasons that lead me to thinking this. For starters, the Form he use to Fake his death is that of a Dragon, when the people saw a Geo dragon drop down on Liyue, nobody doubted that it was Rex Lapis, so Clearly he's been associated to the form of a Dragon for a while... Then there's Azdeha, who never liked Humans, he seems them as bugs beneath him, same goes for Adepti and other Archons, but he sees Morax as someone worthy of Respect, as though he was a Dragon himself. His age is also a hint, given that he's supposed to be around 6000 Years Old and has been in charge for pretty much all that time, it'd make sense if he had been Liyue's Sovereign Dragon from the start. Then there's the fact that Neuvillete Calls him "Deus Auri" (Yes, I'm aware it means "God of Gold", that does not negate the potential draconic significance of it), Nobody else Calls him that, not even Venti. The primary thing that sets Neuvillette Apart from anyone else is that he IS a Dragon(Not just a really old Vishap like Azdeha), so it feels like the name Deus Auri is something that only Dragons would call him, Ancient ones at that. What makes it even Weirder is that Neuvillete is actually very young for a Sovereign Dragon, he's only 500 Years old, he was reborn right after the Calamity, but he seems to have some inherited Memories from his previous incarnation, which tells me that "Deus Auri" might be Zongli's most ancient, and probably true, Name. Oh, and lets not forget that Zongli can Sense Neuvillete's presence well enough that he can just dodge him completely to avoid causing a scene, almost like he Smells another dragon nearby, but Neuvilette doesn't really know how to do that yet...
Oh and lets not forget that Neuvillete has a PARTICULAR Hate for Zongli, in his Voice lines about the various Archons, he more or less says things like "I'll need to punish them for the Role that they or their forbearers had in the unjust downfall of my kind" but he holds no actual animosity towards most of them, he treats it like it's a Job that he'll have to do at some point. Except Venti and Zongli. For Venti he Seems to dislike him for his Role in the Primordial War but it doesn't go much further than that, But for Zongli it Runs deeper, his voice line(and tone) implies that he Genuinely HATES Zongli, the kind of hate reserved for Traitors, not simply enemies...(Also, he Seems to bear no grudge at all against Nahida, so that's nice)
Combine all that with the fact that so far, every Archon has been a different type of Entity. Venti is a Wind spirit Spawn of the Thousand Winds (a Primordial Shade), Makoto and Ei were probably Humans that Ascended to something Higher, then Ei Shoved her Soul in a Sword that she sealed in a Puppet, Rukkhadevata/Kusanali are effectively an Avatar of Irminsul (and possibly also a kind of Djinn?), Focalors and Furina were Oceanids in human form with extra features, and Natlan's Archons were supposedly all human that pass down their power and authority to other humans they consider worthy... So if Zongli IS a Sovereign Dragon, it would make him yet another different type of being, which fits the theory....
This is WAY too many things adding up to pointing to him as a Sovereign Dragon for it to just be a coincidence!
Oh and to be Clear, I'm saying that's he's the Sovereign Dragon that's been "Leashed" by Celestia, as part of the contract he made with the Primordial One, he Lost a part of what he was before the contract, and he had to FIGHT to earn his right to be Archon. He was a Sovereign with all the power and authority that represents, but then he Lost the authority, then fought the Archon war to get it back, but in a limited state as a Gnosis. He's not back to the full power that he had back when he Betrayed the other Dragons, but he's not as diminished as the others have become today (Except Neuvillete, of course, since he had his FULL authority Returned)
This video is great and all but I'm also enjoying the lowkey asmr quality this video has lol 😴
1. Where are you getting that 6k years ago was the dawn of the Seelies at the very most it was the fall and end of the seelies and humans were around during the Seelie reign. Iirc Zhongli said he was born at the tail end of some great strife not birth of a long civilization.
2. Slimes, crystal flies and dragons have been in the game since day one and are born naturally and natively from elemental energy with jack all to do with the primordial sea. The same goes for the Aranara, the Djinn, Youkai and various other Flora and Fauna. It has been provable false that only life born from the primordial sea is native since day one of the game. If anything the primordial sea is from the light realm which makes them among the only provable aliens in the game.
Nueviltte and the dragons dont seem to understand that Teyvat is what was created after the sovereigns lost. The light realm still exists if they want to go there, they are not native to Teyvat nor its originators despite how they continuously portray themselves. Ofcourse it makes sense they would portray themselves like that so theres nothing wrong with the game/storytelling but we shouldn't become caught up in taking what they say at face value.
All of this, except for one thing, the human realm is built upon the light realm. The dragons cannot go there anymore because their home is no more. It is now Teyvat, which belongs to humanity.
The 6K years is lore accurate if you consider Vermillion Hereafter lore to be true, it mentioned that the moon sisters were martyred in a calamity when Rex Lapis was still young, and given that he have dwelled in Teyvat for more than 6000 years, it checks. He never precise when he was born or in what Civilization, but the common Theory is since Mora is conveniently tucked in very precisely designed blocks in Enkanomiya, it might have been a flag form the Devs to tell you that he was alive back then since no other God is associated neither with gold not with Mora ... Since if you ask him anything else he'd play fool or tell you he's under NDA, I think the devs had been trying to give us clues through Xianyun and the Adepti, because ONE information had been VERBATIM confirmed by him : he's the Prime of the Adepti. Therefore when Xianyun, Little Mao and Fujin tells you that Adepti existed since the dawn of times, of that they witnessed the envoys of Celestia, or wherever back they push the lore of the Adepti in time, you better believe he was there.
But all of your questionening is reasonable.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 The fall of the Seelie and moon sisters should coincide theoretically. So it shouldn't be the dawn of the Seelie. The dawn of the Seelie should be not too long after Teyvat was created. Which could be thousands of not hundreds of years before their fall, 6000 years ago.
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks I see where you're comming from, though I don't think it'd gonna be that much prior to that. Let me try to piece it toghether :
The seelies should have still existed up until witnessing the arrival of the second who came, since the story unfolds as follows : The ancestor of the Seelie once met a traveler from afar and married him. Their marriage was witnessed by the three sisters of the Lunar Palace, thirty days after the union, a disaster struck; the Seelie and their lover fled into self-inflicted exile, but the disaster eventually caught up with them. As punishment, they were separated, and their memories were wiped.
Consequently and from another POV, Nabu Malikata, the Goddess of Flowers, lived during the time when the Second Who Came arrived from beyond the firmament and brought war to her kin, she acknowledges that they "brought about illusions that could break through shackles to the land." She was later "cast aside by the heavens" along with the rest of her kin, who were punished for A SIN by becoming stripped of their minds and becoming husks of their former selves, this sin should be what insued after loving humans.
Meanwhile, the great disaster overturned the sisters' carriage and ransacked the palace of the stars. According to one tale, the moon sisters turned on each other and killed each other, although other similar legends do not include this detail. There death insued nonetheless after a certain calamity, which is heavily implied to be Nibelung's great war of vengeance against the Heavenly Principles
Therefore, unless you assume that there should have been another cataclysmic event that could qualify as a ''Great Calamity'' that lead to the demise of the moon sisters, which we have no knowledge of (I personally don't, I assume the reason the moon sisters fought or were deamed dead was in the calamity that brought delusion to the world, when it was at the verge of disaster, the arrival of the secons who came) so the one that was witnessed by the Seelie race, Ithink the fall of the Seelie Race happenend around the same time.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 I agree with this but my assumption was that this cataclysmic event occurred around 6000 years ago. This event should mark the end of their reign on Teyvat. I think that's what OP is saying also.
We all did Morax's 1 and 2 story right? He can't disclosed these highly classified information since he's under NDA with Celestia.
He's the oldest archon so surely he had seen things further in history, and since he's the oldest, he has more knowledge than the rest and we all know that knowledge = power.
Never call him broke again you pesants
This video was so interesting. I’d absolutely loveee if these theories are found to hold truth to them
My C6 R5 Zhongli NEEDS a 5 star special skin like Diluc's! Also I love his lore. I think there is way more to Rex Lapis. He's hiding so unbelievably much that even his "friends" the other Yaksha's or the adepti may only know so little about him. 6000 years is a massive amount of time in which he may have changed his and other peoples fate several times.
“i am mora but i have no mora
Zhogli probably idk:
Completing the duty of a vision barer though isnt necessarily their death, the completion for the bearer at least is to achieve that which they yearn for, are motivated to do, their wish if you will. Given that losing the vision after gaining it (as shown in the vision quest) hints than it's almost replaced their ambition or "eaten" it. Feeling unmotivated when they no longer have it.
People always assume that it's something nefarious and it could be but it also could just be literally the archons power fragment meshed with their own ambition. Delusions being artificial visions draw power from the substance/life energy of the wielder rather than the originating archon. When we hit schneznaya the creator of delusions will then be revealed, and it could be the jester himself.
Your voice is perfect for telling stories.
I wonder if the traveler and their sibling are children of the seele/moon sister and the outlander they'd married before the disaster that ended the seeles
People forgot that zhongli is a descender which mean he is not from teyvat,so Zhong li is much more powerful than what we've known so far
Yes, but that doesn't make him Stronger than every soverign combined. But he is the strongest archon. Archons cannot use their full abilities because they are from teyvat, and are bound by celestias rules. But Zhongli is a descender so he isnt. Meaning he can use unlimited power like Acheron from HSR bc shes an Emanator of NIhility.
@@Phentic we don't even actually know if zhonfli is a descender. It's not even stated
@@nobody-xh6ii It isn't stated but very much implied. In an update when you finished sumerus archon quest, it would remove all archons voice lines about Rukkhhadevata. All arcvhons except zhongli. We also know it was intentional bc they removed smthin else in his story at the same time but left the rukkhadevata part. And only descenders can remember people that have been erased by irminsul.
He is not. Not confirmed at least, just because he descended to Teyvat, doesn't make him one, as we know, it takes more than being an alien, to be a Descender.
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks being an alien means he doesn't bound to teyvat's rule. That alone makes him way more powerful than what we've known so far. He might be more powerful than celestia herself, but because of his contract, he cannot show his true potential. The fact that he had survived many brutal wars and probably knows everything that happens in teyvat. U cannot just ignore the fact that Zhong Li also was not effected by the irminsul, u cannot say Zhong Li is not a descender if he's NOT affected by the irminsul. In stone tablet compilation vol 1 also stated ''in the beggining, rex lapis DESCENDED'' its hard to believe but no matter how hard u study about genshin lore, u still cannot deny that Zhong Li is a descender!
He is called the "God killer" for a reason.
Going forward with the story, i still think the tsaritsa doesn't have the stronger power in her country but probably the top 3 harbinger. they just seems to have some things in common and work for her. But since we're going to be able to pull ALL archons, it seems unlikely we will not pull her, meaning. She will have something to do with the traveler later on and be an ally somewhat.
He maybe was a god of gemstone
Representing how old he was
Zhongli isn't invincible and very nice world quest proves that
My theory: The Taritsa wants to destroy the heavenly principles and remake Teyvat free of them, Zhongli agreed to her plan in exchange to either saving the humans or reintroduce them in the new world, that destruction will clear all contracts and star anew.
I loved the Video, but the background music often overlaps the voice in volume which is distracting. If you turn down the music volume a little I would be awesome.❤
Thank you for pointing out the more straightforward explanation for what Visions give to gods. So tired of all the conspiracy theories.
I've been thinking - if Visions give return on investment, would Mora give return on investment too? Would every Mora spent to power up weapons, return to Zhongli, filled with power of human greed, making him stronger?
Now that's an interesting prospect. Never thought of that side of it. I find it interesting that Pantalone is so incensed by the idea that the institute of money and trade was entrusted to an archon. He basically wants to introduce the paper dollar just like how the rest of the real world eventually rejected the gold standard and went to paper money which is subject to inflation.
According to Wriothesley Bis weapon. He's actually the one who made up credit coupons and decided to run the experiment in the Fortress because it was largely cut off from the Archons influence.
Maybe he knows more about what happens when mora is used 🤔
Love these theories! I didn`t know a lot of his lore before! Was wow'ed by the connection (and ashamed of myself for not noticing it) that GOLD is held on a high pedestal in Genshin lore and he is Deus Auri. And using mora to do transmutations! Thanks for the video!
Edit: My thoughts as I watched your video...
1. What if part of end game has a lot of vision bearers "die" or "fulfill their contracts" to power up the gnosis/archons by having that borrowed power returned with interest so they can fight Celestia?
2. Or is the fate of some allogenes to ascend to godhood? If yes, who (maybe Arlecchino?) and whose side would they be on? Either through contract (to Celestia) or by their own desire/will.
3. Has it been confirmed that anemo, geo, electro, and dendro visions are no longer being granted since their gnosis have been confiscated by the Fatui? I'm discounting hydro because Neuvillette gifting to Furina.
4. "Fatui" because they are "actors" putting on an elaborate play for the audience (Celestia). If this is their way to explain Dottore and to justify all his inhumane experiments and make him a "good guy" or at least "anti-hero", then I'm gonna probably roll my eyes because of course Hoyo'd find a way to make Dottore marketable.
@@LilianaKali You mean the Fatui, Neuvillette gifted the hydro gnosis to the Fatui. I don't think gnoses are responsible for the creation of visions either, the elemental authority is, and that's stored in Celestia, presumably.
@@F1ll1nTh3Blanks I didn't type my thoughts correctly. Thanks for pointing it out. I meant that Neuvillette gifted a VISION to Furina, but do we know of any other VISIONS being gifted since the gnosis containing the authorities (minus hydro authority) are now with the Fatui? I mean Rana got one, but I don't remember if that was canonically before or after the archon quest.
@@LilianaKaliThe aranara quest and literally any world quest or story quest can be before or after the sumeru Archon Quest because that quest like Wanderer's and Ei's 2nd story quest dont care about the time-line. If they are completeted before the sumeru Archon quest nothing will happen but if completed after the sumeru archon quest was completed then they will be altered. Its simply an anomaly.
@@LilianaKaliThe Authorities stolen from the Dragon Sovereigns we're sealed in the Divine Thrones that the Archons sit on . On The Heaven's Glow like Apep said. The Gnosis does not hold any power from the Dragon Sovereigns. The Gnosis hold the remains of the 3rd descender and greatly amplify elemental energy.
After all those years, I'm still a Zhongli simp and always will be. 😩
I would add that I think the Fatui might want to return the Authority to the Dragon Sovereigns because they have animosity towards Celestia and would be powerful allies in the war against the Heavenly Principles.
And along came a capybara and one shots his shield 😂
i love your exposition here, your videos are always so insightful and inspiring ! i’m curious though, as we know zhongli now to be deus auri, how would the sun god theory factor into all of this? can it even be considered?
Moraless Morax
Where does it say that Liyue had the most battles in the Archon War?
Literally just waiting on Rock Daddy Z's rerun
If vision holders deaths give a boon of power to the PO or Sustainer when they die, then it would make sense the same goes for delusions right? Has the tsaritsa been harvesting power through handing out delusions this entire time?
Delusions seem to come from remains of dead gods. Which is why they're so troublesome. It is not clear what happens to delusions when the bearer dies.
@@kotarouinugami1745They still seem functional. Spoilers for Emilie Story Quest, but even after Vijama died, Kirya could still use her Delusion for over the course of 20+ years.
@@RGA301092 Makes sense.
And a lot of people thought that Zhongli can be bested by the Fatui Harbingers.
You should check out the Lore regarding Xbalanque and the Pyro Sovereign.
I absolutely can't wait to, but I'd rather not read the leaks. Is it really interesting?
@@theunlikelygenshingamerI reccomend reading on irl mythology of characters in general as they basically spoil alot. Such as Nabu Malikata being named after an akkadian god who introduced language to humanity or how Mavuika is a god of flames who had her flames taken by Maui and given to humanity hinting at her resignation and giving the throne to someone else in the competition, or the comedias typically having the captain have a moment where he’s humbled implying he might be the first fatui harbinger to fail or that he has to resort to allying the new archon with sneznaya as a means of “getting the gnosis”.
The multiple stories written out and how they could interact are all very interesting and you dont need spoilers to learn the lore (most times ive been leaked against my will its been very broad lore and the more specific stuff had its writing changed on release drastically changing implications so dont bother with leaks).
@Fuphu you do make a good point. In fact the video I did about names in genshin and how much info they contain. You might like it. I'll probably check out what you said.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer I’ll check it out. New perspectives always open up my mind and cause a bunch of “eureka” moments from a lore perspective.
Brace yourself don't read if you don't like Leaks...
Before Xbalanque became the Pyro Archon he challenged the Pyro Sovereign to a fight and after that he came out victorious and thus became the very First Pyro Archon.
Super interesting that Eli’s will inadvertently halted the “blessing” of an electro vision to the people
Of teyvat.
Also I think Neuvillette gave Furina more power than usual. Sad she has zero battle experience.
I love Zhong Li. The best Archon ever ❤
Zhongli is the God of Tevat
As far venti is more likely too be god of teyvat
What relevance does this have to the video?The video had nothing to do with what you said and it just shows that some people will hear and read something but speak about completely different from how it was told .
@@Ayushkumar-jt2pnhere comes the fans
@@Ayushkumar-jt2pn No lol
Mastery of hydro...he still downs in water outside of fontaine
@magallanthepenguin9132 and canonically said he cannot stand the dryness of the desert, I wonder how he's gonna judge Ei out of all the Archons because you know, Zip Zap, electrocharged 🤣
I would not be surprised if he was a Shade, in fact, following the archon twin theory that's been getting popular, he should have a "twin" somewhere, either directly related to him in blood, or otherwise, a copy, a look-alike, something to that effect.
The shade of life sounds well suited to Zhongli as well too, as the earth gives rise to life does it not? And some media have shown Zhongli capable of giving life. Some assume his twin would be the shade of death, and is either in Celestia as a captive that's being held hostage to get him to obey the rules similar to what they did to Venti's Vanessa (and their heroes because it looks like Monds is the only Nation who has successfully ascended humans to be gods?), or somewhere where Zhongli wants to go to and save him, that's why he contracted to the Tsaritsa's plans.
Just as Venti, capable of yeeting the tallest mountain in Monds into the sea that only its peak remains, second oldest god, wise enough to make an ally of Morax so he does not get offed and his nation gets protected as his neighbor, ALLOWED his gnosis to be taken by a mere not even visioned Harbinger. It does not make sense.
I could go on and on of what evidence there is, but the voicelines actually are a main tell to how special our Morax is. One, his lines never changed about the number of gods even when Nahida plucked Rhukka out. When Nahida should have been "one of the original archons", he still stated there were only two left.
Another is a voiceline that Keith had that Hoyo deleted and replaced with his now infamous Osmanthus wine line, in case people did not know. It said something to the effect of him not having been back to Celestia in a long while, as if he were BORN there and not in Teyvat below.
Venti didn't allow it, he got weakened to the point where he needed copious amounts of sleep just to sustain himself, he isn't worshipped as he once was so he can no longer maintain that power
A lot of speculation in this, I also think you need to bring in more raw data to support the claim
I never thought Zhongli have connections in other nations of Teyvat 😮 but different name.
I hope he can spill his knowledge one day
W theory cant wait to find things out in the next 2 yrs
I don't think he's an All powerful or strongest in Teyvat Specially in His Second Story Quest i think where he Looks at Celestia after we ask him a Question which is Also where the "Final Contract" have been set in stone which is "Destroying all the Contracts" yet he still didn't Revealed something we ask on that Story Quest and The Seven Dragon Sovereign was the Original Users of the Gnosis Sealed Power like at the Fontaine Story Quest he said "we Cant beat" the All Devouring narwhal and then Right after the Scene of Focalor and Neuvi he said i have gained a certain Streng or something (i just dont remember the specific words he said) and the fact that Zhongli is Trying to escape from Neuvi at that certain event where Furina and Hu tao Met Zhongli is Smiling or Smirking when he found out Neuvi left and return to fontaine or something and in Chess Piece Rook and Queen Have higher Points that Bishop and Knights (Zhongli is Rook and Ventinis Queen im sure Venti is Week because The Anemo Energy inside the Gnosis is Separated to 5 if you go listen to the Quest specially the one where dvalin rescue the Squad after Falling in their Battle
Imagine a movie🐲
Only for Zhongli to get beaten by Goku
Even a bedrock can be turned to dust.. no matter how strong it is.
this was fun! i hope he is a villain, what an incredible turn that would be for such a beloved character lol
Oh please no 😂 But let's face it, he himself said that gods ''Moral values'' and their virtue stems from what is beneficial to humans (Jadefall's Splendor lore) and that Gods are not intrinsically good or dab as depicted by humans.
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273true, judging Gods by human standard is stupid
@@kevincorso9757 NO!! Imagine the horror of fighting him as a BOSS. A creature with 100% uptime shield with gazillion HP because he's based on HP. Throwing stone spears at you and METEORS that can petrify you. Oh! Don't forget that HE CAN HEAL HIMSELF (c6 Zhongli) so whatever damage you manage to inflict past his shield WILL BE HEALED ANYWAY! So no, please no.
What if zhongli is the primordial one all along?
That would be a major twist. Can't say they aren't capable of it though. Looking forward to the Natlan trailer from the live stream in a couple days to see what other hints about the story we can glean.
That's the most bullshite theory I ever heard 😂
@@NibbaAmogus Man zhongli's a master of faking his death n deceiving the people around
@@NibbaAmogus
He could be a remnant of the primordial one
He has another name.... Gudd'winn the Gold,n
this name in Gold.
Raiden riders when i tell them that all the build up for Zhongli's full potential is more than her: (they dont know its a lore based game and story and backstory matters more than feats)
Well its hard to get any feats if there is no one to fight with is it not?
At one point in the rite of parting we make three bottles of perfume, suitable for three different ages of a woman and offer all three to the statue of the geo lord. It is heavily hinted that he once roamed the world in female form as well. I can't help feeling that the old witch Gold is actually one of his incarnations. That's why Gold's perfect vessel project, the homunculus Albedo has geo element. The golden Wolford created by Gold Rhinedottir is also Geo. A stretch, but still curious coincidence
We know that Gold is from Khaenri'ah and is one of the Sinners. We know that shes so powerful, because she used abyssal power. She's not Zhongli.
It's like saying that Zhongli is Ningguang, because both are geo and both rule over Liyue.
@velary9355 I agree. Many points disprove this theory, starting with how Zhongli is a God (and since the recent book from Imaginarium theater also emphasis that those which have golden blood are Gods) it cannot be possible since Khaenri'ah whole premise was being a godless nation. There sre many more things we can mention such as how could Celestia give a Gnosis to a Sinner...
@@citoyenneteavanttout7273 not only that, if we believe what Dainsleif said in the last quest, the sinners aren't THAT old. Zhongli would have to first become a god around 6 thousand years ago, the an archon around 2 thousand years ago and then go to Khaenri'ah to do his sinnery thing around 550-500 years ago.
You know there is something sus about the 7 anemo slime at Chenyu Vale, this make me think that Celestia might want to replace the current 7 archon, since the current 7 have demon names i would think there is new 7 archon with angel names, that mean Celestia want to reset Teyvat countdown back to zero🤔 are the current Teyvat is a failed experiment🤔
Is Zhongli's rerun banner coming anytime?
I think he might be 5.2 or 5.3 cause they always rerun the Archons after a new world drops.
@@theunlikelygenshingamer YAY THANK YOU SO MUCHI HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT I'VE BEEN SAVING PROMOGEMS FOR HIM GOR 2 YEARS!!😭😭😭
@@theunlikelygenshingamer okkkkk thank you ^^
Zhongli is definitely related to Remus, Deshret, and Decarabian
well not really, as it seems. The thread of connection between them is Gold... but it had been debunked that none of those Gods has any relationship with actual gold. Deshret was outed by Taldha and Liloupar for having'' fake gold'' in his sanctuary which consisted of bronze and brass, it even was mentioned in the weapon Dialog of The Desert Sages than even in his time, Deus Auri was the sole God capable of creating gold, Decarabian's lore lasted as far as the end of the Archon war and until then he was known as the god of the storms, and Remus's relationship with Gold was receiving divinations form the Golden bees, moreover he was a God of Sumeru that was chased exiled BY AL AHMAR and none of the lore of the desert mention him particularily...
Who is Zhongli contracted to? Was he the one who “heavenly summoned” Lumine and Aether? Zhongli says he’s over 6000 years old. Teyvat’s is 6000 years old! How old is Zhongli? 6500 years? 10,000 years? 25,000 years? 45,000 years? 🤔🤔🤔He has to know “the truth” of Teyvat’s!
well... its china we're talking about XD
Li yue = china, of course "the rules" of china would be one if not the most op character.
dude literally ran away from neuvillete lol, also hiding using tsarist and her plan as a means to overthrow the divine
I saw the pinned and I don't agree at all. I was with you until the mora bit. Nice video.
Yh Zhongli is just a lazy oldman now lmao
Nah i'm joking, this guy is insane