Until proven otherwise, I am thinking what actually happened is that Rukkhadevata tried to reincarnate, but somehow was interrupted by some Abyssal force in Khaenri'ah, either fracturing or even completely severing her consciousness from being able to transition into the new body. As a failsafe, the consciousness, heavily strained both from the battle that resulted in the attempted reincarnation and the failure of said reincarnation, was forced into Irminsul, while the empty vessel wove what little bits of the Greater Lord's essence together with the core network of the Akasha terminals, thus making a new consciousness of the 'lesser lord'.
We did see Irminsal burning in both the Sumeru and Fatui Trailers. And this is what is causing all the scholars to go insane as Irminsal is pretty much corrupted. Rukkhadevata might have linked her consciousness with Irminsal when she was dying. Seeing the damage done to Irminsal, she leaves the message to the scholars "World Forget Me".
@@surajvinod1567 Do keep in mind that we only got a fragment of the full message. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of whatever is the truth sooner or later...
The irony here is that dev are from China, and CCP is trying to seize the reincarnation of Dalai Lama in real world, so if you look at it, inspiration is not far away
yes, Ruk = Kusa, she sacrifice all her memories and power to save sumeru and was reborn as Kusa without memories. It's the same in Arama's & Arana's story where using big burst of power will cost them their memories. It'll be perfect to watch the Sage's face when they find out the god they despise is actually the same god they worship. Sumeru's happy ending is with the dance, it's time to get dark!
If she sacrificed her memories, maybe that's why she wanted people to forget her. Because by remembering her, she couldn't be forgotten and her sacrificed memories would be all fo nought. I could be completely wrong tho
There already is a physical form to Kusanali. During the end of her archon quest when she is in Katheryn's body she said she is being held at a location by the sages and she is able to see the outside using the network. Piamon then makes a comment about Kusanali essentially being under house arrest. She already is in a physical form but has far greater access to the features of the network because she is the dendro archon. I hope she is released as a playable character in 3.2 and there is another archon quest where we free her from the sages.
She can be the consciousness trapped in the gnosis. She never said she could see the outside world through the windows or through any other means that aren't the Akasha.
I really liked your theory. It honestly makes a lot of sense paired with the Aranara quest line that focused on using a lot of power = losing memories. Could that elude that she might’ve used a large amount of power to stop whatever that was during the cataclysm in which resulted in her loss of memories?
That’s the theory I came up with on a whim after playing both the archon and aranara quests but my friend thought it was a stretch. To add on, I remember during the aranara quest they kept repeating “the forest will remember” even if you loose your memory, I feel like that might have a connection with the “world…forget me” line
I just realized that they could probably be telling the story in plain sight with Arama being the representation of Kusanali. The former Ashvattha tree was too damaged to continue and Arama was needed to plant the new one. Marana represents the cataclysm 500 years ago. The "Ashvattha tree" in the dream world is the Irminsul itself. Kind of symmetrical that the Aranaras represent the dream world but their tree is on the real world while the Dendro Archon is on the opposite spectrum lol
If you think about it, Guoba also harnessed a lot of his power to save the people of Liyue from a certain disaster back then, and lost both his memories and most of his power. I figure something like this might've been in the works for the stories in Sumeru as well. Plus, considering the region it's based on, I wouldn't rule out reincarnation being a theme this chapter is exploring. There's also all that connection with the Honkai lore & universe, but that's another story.
I talked to a friend of mine regarding the Sages of Sumeru, we came to the following conclusion before we finished the main quest (hell before the "dream" event). And that was "There's no Wisdom in Sumeru". They all seemed to attached to the past, and their knowledge seemed to heavy on data than anything else. Wisdom isn't just data, it's everyday life experiences and observations alongside our ability to understand knowledge and those experiences. In fact, considering there's references that the Godess of Flowers did dance in the first feast for Rukkhadevata (I must have butchered the name >.
“The God of Wisdom’s enemy is wisdom itself, and the oasis of knowledge is a mirage in the desert of ignorance.” The last line of your comment reminded me the quote Dain said in teyvat chapter storyline.
I also believe that Kusanali is Rukkhadevata in a Guoba-like state because if the Aranara quest taught me anything, it's that you can use your power (in the Aranara's case, their memories ARE their power) to achieve great things but lose who you previously were in return or in other words, a shell of your previous self.
Yeah, perhaps she lost her memories in order to end the cataclysm. Just like Arama sacrificed their memories (memories of life) in order to defeat Marana (the memories of death).
@@jryv2468 wasn't it arana sacrificing their memories? arama basically went to sarva and 'died', to become a tree that produces bija with arana's memory :)
Same theory here!! After completing Aranara quest...theres a possibility Greater Lord and Kusanali are same... She exhausted her power frim saving Sumeru from Catalysm and she become seed again (Kusanali) which the Sages found her and brought her back to Sumeru. And thus, Akasha system still functions despite losing the previous dendro archon. And similar to Aranara..they lose their memories when they exhaust their powers.. but the forest remembers...
@@hm.5003 The princess Dehya protect literally has a good ending whereas the quest plot literally convince us that she died eventually we know all of them is a dream a lie she is still alive and live well, the seed of varanara is mixed sad and good but i think its a good ending because forest is saved, no its not Honkai its Genshin it has sad ending and good ending fairly shared
Considering how much importance was placed on the Guoba quest and showing how a god can give up their power for a greater purpose to be left with a depowered vessel.... that this might be where the story is heading. The aranaka quests give us an idea of how Kusanali can regain this power, by absorbing the memories contained within Irminsul. I think this gives a clear way forward as you theorise at the end. Sumeru as we know it will fall, Irminsul will be destroyed (freeing up the Gnosis for the fatui plotline) and Kusanali will ascend to her full godhood and become the playable character.
I don't think she will be reclaiming any godly power. Venti, Zhongli and Raiden are all not terribly powerful in lore. Ei is an exception but you're playing as Raiden. Ei has no physical body. If they just give Kusanali all her power back it would be kind of immersion breaking so I don't think that will happen.
She said that she isn't powerful enought to absorb the important knowledge of Irminsul yet. That's why she asked the traveler to help her to see what happens with that "forget me" in the end of the archon quest. I beleave she will remember or see what happened in the past after some battle with the academia and will tell us some things and to continue our journey to find the truth. Irminsul will not be destroyed as basically the whole forest and everything in sumeru are powered by the power of dendro, since it was basically a desert land and the archon used her power to increase vegetation.
What made you believe that any normal civilian will be able to change the look of a statue of the seven? Whenever you upgrade a statue, at certain intervals, the looks change to become more exquisite. Not only that, it gets updated throughout the entire region. You could see rubble gathering and forming parts of the statue by magic. Even when the abyss order took venti's statue and turned it upside down, they couldnt actually change the appearance of it.
"Even if a person is stuck in a cave, their consciousness will travel all over the 4 directions". Kusanali is the in game representation of budisathwas himself. Everything from lotuses and flowers to reincarnation until destined time.
Kusalani does exist in the physical world, but she’s basically trapped in the sanctuary of surusthana by the sages. They put her there to “protect” her at first but never let her out after that. Kusalani said so during the end of act 2 of the Sumeru archon quest, where you ask her a bunch of questions when she is Katheryne.
The archon quest literally said that Kusanali is basically put under house arrest by the sages, so I'm not sure how that's a theory when it's openly explained already.
Oh boy I can barely wait for Kusanali's story quest to happen. We all know it will, it's only a matter of when. Probably around her first or second banner, like Ei.
Thank you for the subtitles. It made watching your video much more enjoyable, and I like your theory of having Kusanali being a combination of the 3, as well as the caged bird theory. I'm looking forward to your future lore videos, Sumeru clearly has a lot hidden from us.
I thought Paimon's question was so strange as well! Glad I'm not the only one I think it's hinting that Kusanali is Rukkhadevata Edit: Finished the video. Yes! This is almost the same theory I had! I think the Aranara quest ties directly to Kusanali and Rukkhadevata, after all we know they are closely related already
I just started watching, and THIS IS SO GOOD! I sided with the idea that the Sot7 was of Rukkhadevata, but it never occurred to me that it could be both. I subscribe to Theory 3, because the crazier the better!
I have a crack theory that Kusanali is what's powering the Akasha System, or that she's the actual "legacy left by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata." I think this, because of what you've mentioned about Kusanali's imprisonment. Also the fact that when the Terminal reset every night during Act 2, *the beep sounded more like the tweet of a little bird.*
i mean idk, because in the trailer Kusanali states that the son (Rukkhadevata) is long gone and referencing herself as the moon basically is making herself seem as a completely different entity.
@@dazaichan9970 She's being very poetic, in an attempt to get a more complex idea across. Kusanali's really into allegory. The Moon is its own being, but it doesn't shine without the Sun. Meaning that her "shine", whatever it might be, isn't her own but sourced from Rukkhadevata, the "Sun." I think she might be a clone, or something of an offshoot of the Greater Lord. Not only because of the resemblance she bears to Teri-Teri, but also the fact that in plant terms, a tree can grow an offshoot sapling by one of its roots. Essentially, a tree can clone itself. And since this is all about Dendro, I can't ignore these possibilities. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We'll just have to wait for the story to develop more, so we can have more solid info on the Dendro Archon.
You should also look into the Tridevi, the consorts of the Trimurti: Saraswarti, Lakshmi, and Parvati. Reading into this, I think there's a chance that Kusanali is a reincarnation, embodiment, and/or replication of a god- but not of Rukkhadevata. There's still a larger chance Kusanali is Rukkha's clone, but if Rukkha was the one who made her, I don't think she'd recreate herself, especially if you take "World... forget me" superficially. Instead, I think Rukkha tried to clone the Goddess of Flowers, the one who brought joy and prosperity and held a unique sense of cunning and wisdom amongst the three sage-kings of Sumeru, and the one who was universally so beloved the whole of Sumeru mourned her death, including the Scarlet King who went mad thereafter to pursue his form of utopia for his people. It's an unorganized theory, but I can't help but wonder what if.
I also think something like that when Nilou tell the tale of the Padisarah. Rukkhadevata tries to recreate the flower representing her friend, but can't get the color right.
Also there is something very disturbing about The Lord of Flowers She used to be a god that all Sumeru loved. She was the vital piece of the paradise of the ancient past. The other gods want to keep pieces of her legacy and ideal to continue blessing their people. And now she only appears in some stories related to other gods, or some tales told by some surviving Jinns. Also, not a single Lord of Flowers devotee remains.
@@shrimpkanchou1276 some of the lore surrounding her suggests she actually planned out her death in such a way that it would have preserved her legacy forever... like what? So many lore pieces focus on how Rukkhadevata and the Scarlet King coped with her death, and I have to wonder if it would bear any relevance to the archon quest.
@@CapriciousRhapsody most of her lore come from the artifacts and Weapon Ascension materials, which no one can get except the Traveller. That means normal people have little to no knowledge about her, and Traveller knows a bit more than that. It gets so bad that: 1. That certain Eremite group blames Rukkhadevata for killing their god, and have no idea of his copium overdose (he went mad due to grief and sacrifice himself and his people to create an hivemind) 2. The Akademiya got The Scroll of the Streaming Song, but they have no idea that it's about The Lord of Flowers and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata
havent finished the video, but i wanted say this rn before i forget. when @IslandXD mentioned that kununali could be a reincarnation to rukkhadevata, it made me think on why the academia would keep her in her room all day and night. perhaps they are actually protective of her and are afraid of losing their archon yet again. Or maybe they are attempting to bring back rukkhadevata by bring memories back to kusunali. how are they doing this? maybe the reason why the acedemia is harvesting dreams to begin with is to eventually connect themselves with irminsul. irminsul may still have memories of greater lord rukkhadevata, and the acedamia is trying to harvest that to put it inside kusunali. i'll gather more of thoughts after the video.
There is something really connected to dreams, makoto, Rukkadevata, all the smart gods talked about dreams and seems to prioritize it. Maybe "dreams" is a way to escape the prison you said about in your previous new theory
I don't remember the exact words, but in the archon quest Kusanali actually tells the Traveler that the sages are keeping her locked in the shrine at the top of the Sumeru tree. So yeah, no need to fully rely on the "bird in a cage" interpretation, she literally confirms herself that she's trapped. You might have missed that part.
This video is a fucking masterpeice the amount of work, thinking and rescearch that must have went into this is amazing.. So im commenting for the algorithm so that many more people can watch this
Sadly they'll always be players being mad at this. Saying this is boring and predictable and that Kusanali should have been like...Rukkadevata daughter or something. Even thought fits with the world.
They're also the same people who speed run events on day 1 and complain genshin doesn't have things to do or they skip the dialogues that are full of nuances.
Thank you for your hard work Island!! I always enjoy your videos and streams 😊 This theory makes me so excited all over again to find out what happens next! And genius ending LOL
1) Your theory about the statue hit me like a car. I always assumed Rukkhadevata was an adult woman because the sages were always talking about her so highly so in my mind, they didn't like Kuku because she's a kid....Holy hell. That sounds so insane. 2) I kinda agree with the three deities theory. One of my personal theory was that Kuku was Rukkhadevata reborn but just with the goddess of flowers' powers. I didn't think about the scarlet king. 3) I don't think the Irmisul tree will actually be destroyed. If this is the only Irmisul tree, the stakes are way too high. If the tree is destroyed in any shape or form, teyvat itself will be thrown into chaos and possibly not exist anymore. So far it's only sick but at the end of the day, it won't get destroyed.
If I recall one of the Aranara next to the statue in Vararama just straight up says the statue represents Rhukkadevata. I'm also pretty certain Nahida was a seed of Rhukkadevata's consciousness planted right before she died so that's why she looks the same. Also Nahida does have a physical body, it's just locked away by the akademia so she can only be seen in dreams by most people
Now that I finished all the Archon Quest & those chain Quest from Aranara (Took me weeks, and got to AR 60 as I finished), I will watch this video with ease, as I write down my impression. 2:23 Seeing this scene as Aether traveller hits different 8:14 Now that I finished the Aranara's quest. It is literally madness to think the sages took all of adult Sumeru people's dream, where through dream and memories people can be preserved and gives power to trees. No wonder the withering zone keeps popping up with no ends. No power to sustain the Marana. Then, finger crossed they would use it to heal the Irminsul tree (as supposed to stop Withering Zone too) 12:41 Nice cut there, lol. Great video as always! Easy to understand. Really appreciate it
Holy moly.. Your theory about Kusanali - One thing to say: *Chef's Kiss*. I truly had my suspicions towards this paralels between Kusa and Rukkha, but..god damn, you enlightened me even more on this subject! Terrific video fam!
This is quite a crazy theory, because we didn't knew Rukkadevata's real apperance. But there's a big problem: if the Irminsul tree (master tree particularly) is destroyed, how we store the knowledge? Books? Or some sort of recorder?
Not only that but Ashikai mentioned in one of her latest vids that the Aranara think that the Irminsul tree is what's keeping the whole world as is, meaning that if it get's destroyed then bye bye Teyvat.
We don't know Rukkadevata's appearance, but we do know her voice. She has the same voice as Nahida. At the end of the Archon quest, when we ask Nahida about the voice saying "World forget me"...Nahida says it's probably Rukkadevata. I remember this dialogue because I was like "Girl, that sounds like YOUR voice??"
Finally someone noticed what I did! Rukkedevata=Kusanali obviously!! Edit: The initial theories are unlikely. As Occam's razor states, the simplest explanation is the most likely. We already know that the Bija is the sacrifice of memories in order to heal (in the case we know, the sacrifice of Arana to heal Rana). Since the Aranara are a product of Rukkedevata's power, it's not impossible that Rukkedevata made a Bija, being herself the sacrifice, to fight against the Cataclysm and save the Irminsul tree. There's no need for embodiment or reincarnation. Also, Kusanali exists physically, she says that herself. She's just locked up by the sages which she also states, and therefore can only communicate through dreams and the Akasha system. She's in that green palace on top of the Sumeru tree. She literally says that.
I agree. I think the sages are pulling an Otto here. They said they found the newly reborn denro archon but proceeds to deny her as their denro archon. I think they can't accept that Kusanali looks the same as Rukkhadevata but isn't Rukkhadevata, and are now in denial. Trying to suppress Kusanali's existence and are now trying to Revive Rukkhadevata. Except, Otto didn't try and suppress Theresa. He loved her as his granddaughter. The sages are different. They loathed Kusanali's existence. Im really conflicted with my on comment now. I can't shake the feeling that there are still a lot of info missing. Now i really want that next story quest.
the story is already leaked, dottore and akademiya is trying to make their own archon with scaramouche as the base not revive rukha, the sages already hate rukha from the beggining
I think the background music can be a bit too loud at some point in the video. But the content is great. :D I'm leaning towards the reincarnation theory. It fits the theme they're going with Sumeru quite well.
Another thing is Sumeru's statue of the seven. The archon's statue looks like a small kid but wearing an oversized robe. Maybe it's hinting that someone just shrinked into a smaller version, perhaps reincarnated. And because of the statue's posture as well, seems in a dormant state.
This is why we can't pull Nahida early unlike the other Archons. We have to "set her free" in a future Archon Quest for her to become 'playable' i.e. to (in-game-wise) "join" the Traveler for his adventures.
Judging by how all the main stories in Sumeru were somehow connected to the idea of the subconscious, memories and dreams, the idea of Nahida/Kusanali being a reincarnation is guaranteed in my opinion.
My headcanon is that during the Khaenrian Cataclysm, Rukkhadevata's might've asked for Istaroth's aid in orchastrating the "current reality" of Sumeru, wherein a fragment of her consciousness became Kusanali (similar to the idea of a tree spreading "seeds", which are curiously similar not only to Aranara but also to the analogies we use for wisdom, knowledge and understanding: seeds sowed into the fertile soil that is the mind), while the rest of her was absorbed into Irminsul. That said, maybe Abyssal technology was able to "corrupt" her consciousness and thus, the issue with the Tree of Ley Lines emerges.
it is now clear. since Rukhadevata sacrificed herself for the people of the desert, I think her story will be similar to the story of Aranara who tried to help Rana and then forgot all of us. the same thing happened to kusanali, even though they were the same person they were different because kusanali forgot everything.
Kusanali embodying the three gods Goddess of Flowers: Pretty speculative from the 2.1 patch that Kusanali is the god of Flowers, and if she is, she might be the reincarnation of the old Goddess of Flowers Scarlet King: The sages chose to not acknowledge Kusanali's existence to rule Sumer because they only believe Rukkhadevata, but them locking her physical form might have a reason (reminds me of the Sunchildren), just like how the Scarlet king descent into madness after the Goddess of Flower's death God of Woods/previous dendro archon: has a wisdom, and the sages knew that Kusanali is being suitable to be the center of the akasha terminal Edit: There is a problem about the Irminsul Tree The irminsul tree contains the memories through the leylines, and if the irminsul tree is destroyed (which from the theory suggested would have Kusanali severed ties with it), what would happen to the memories of the past in the ley lines? Will they likely be destroyed and erased?
Wait a minute, so the Irminsul gonna get destroyed and that means knowledge stored on the Irminsul will be destroyed, which means Sumeru was gonna get a new beginning and will use the dream ideology to regain the knowledge. That means Kusanali will help the people to regain knowledge and she will gain the trust of everyone in Sumeru by using dreams. Right?
I wish I could hear what you're saying better, I'm listening to this in the background but the background music is sometimes louder than your voice. Like at 3:15. If possible to lower the background music when it's really hyped so I can hear you better. 🥺🙏 Love the video btw!🥰
World.. forget me… Another awesome theory vid! My take is that just like arama (finished the aranara questline days ago..) rukkhadevata or queen aranyani she became the irminsul tree and was reincarnated into nahida. I think..
I enjoy the theories! I believe that wisdom suffers obtaining true freedom for itself/themselves. And why trials before them are challenging. Not to exclude any other things ofc! I am curious on how ur theory on Dottore in the future will be! 🤣 Considering his major ‘appearance’ near the beginning of Sumeru itself then later on. Listen,the guy probably only is portrayed as a madman due to wanting to walk a path no one (close minded people) would rather and are afraid to take on. Sometimes people take those paths knowing well that judgement of other’s opinions will rise,and it is resilience that will get them through those kinds of hardships. I think Dottore will have a interesting lore. Sometimes u got to look crazy in order to understand truth. Sometimes,certain actions are necessary to be taken upon to find a solution for the impossible to make it possible.
I'd like to believe that the physical form of Nahida we see in the archon quest actually is what Rukkhadevata looked like, and that Kusanali only exists as a concept, a person in the realm of dreams (similar to how Ei only "existed" in her own plane of Euthymia for a long time). We've seen before that Kusanali can take control of bodies (Katheryne), it would make sense to, if she just wants to speak for herself, use the previous dendro archon's body for that. It would also explain why the statue could look like both, simply because one uses the appearance of the other for themselves. I do think it's highly unlikely, but as I said I'd like to think it's this way :) it's just an idea!
How do you feel being spot on (particularly with the second theory) I would also like to point out that we don't know if the statues were made by humans at all. In fact, there's lore hinting at the fact that they aren't. Particularly, how Watatsumi island has a statue of the seven, that they seem resentful of (as they are resentful of the god as well) so obviously, they didn't build it, but it is also entirely possible that Makoto had people carry and plant a statue over there. We just don't know But it's going to be interesting to see in Fontaine if the statues resemble the god of the archon wars or the current god (granted they don't pull another twin situation) So basically: You used the wrong equation but you arrived at the right answer, so well done
Even Kusanali said it herself, SHE is the FIRST Ahasha terminal meaning without her the system would not work. The Akasha system was the first Dendro archon's gift with the Gnosis power, but the Akasha terminals were created with Kusanali power (aka dream power) being the source of energy used to access it. The people of Sumeru could not as freely access the Akasha without the terminals the sages created with Kusanali power. Of Course, they don't want her to roam free now, she's been caged since she was brought to Sumeru city and left alone for under 500 years... they built the system around their caged Archon to rule the nation.
For people having trouble understanding how the Honkai series ties into the theory, here are several things to understand. All of the Archons reflect a playable character from the Honkai series: Venti - Wendy (Wind/Anemo, gender-bent) Zhongli - Eden (Gold/Mora, gender-bent) Raiden Ei - Raiden Mei (Original, Lightning/Electro) Raiden Matoko - Dr. Mei (HoT battlesuit) Raiden Shogun - Raiden Mei (Herrscher of Thunder) Nahida - Theresa Apocalypses (Never aging source of Wisdom) Hydro Archon - (Likely Seele, Water/Hydro symbolism, the Balancing Scale of Justice) Murata - Himeko Murata/Captain Himeko (Fire/Pyro symbolism, HoF battlesuit, Herrscher of Flames) Tsaritsa - (Likely Bronya, Ice/Cryo symbolism, Herrscher of Reason attacks with Ice, Silver Wing attacks with Ice, Star Rail Bronya is Wind but has Ice Sickles and Snow on her outfit, Beta testers also claim the Tsaritsa is referred to in early game as Bronya, adopted mother of Bronya in Star Rail is an Ice Deity Boss based off of Herrscher of Ice's power and form.) All of which are playable characters, though Wendy is only playable in Houkai Gakuen 2, and it also seems that she might be getting resurrected soon in HG2, though I don't play it. Regarding Kusanali, her power is Dendro, but the source of her power is her ideal, which is Wisdom (Think of it like a battery with a + and -). True Wisdom can only be obtained through one's own personal experiences, this is why she leads the Traveler to form their own conclusions, rather than flat out telling them what is going on. Education is not the same thing as Wisdom, as Education is obtaining someone else's knowledge, without having the experience or understanding of it's actual meaning or source of origin (Akasha Terminal). Likewise, Education is almost always doctored by people with no relation to the original source information, long before it gets past down by word of mouth, before finally arriving on paper, making it a perversion of the truth at best, hence the age old phrase: "The Winners of the War are the Writers of the History Books", or as Assassin's Creed put it: "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted". Here is a short story from Greek mythology, to better understand how divinity works, it should also make it clear what Kusanali and the other Archons are going through. Ancient Greece was experiencing a time of happiness and productivity, and the people wanted to show their appreciation to Eirene, the Goddess of Peace, so they held a banquet in her honor, inviting all of the Gods and Goddesses to attend. During the festivities, the humans noticed that the Goddess Eirene seemed unhappy, she didn't touch any of the food or say a single word. To this, the people of Greece voiced their concerns, after all, they put a lot of work into the banquet, which was in her honor, so she could have at least shown some appreciation in return. One of the Gods (A War God) stood up and called the people fools, explaining that Eirene was a Goddess of Peace, yet the people slaughtered animals and disrupted the crops to provide food in her name; as a Goddess of Peace, she obtains her power through the actions of Peace, and anything that disrupts Peace was harmful to her being. We actually see this in how the Archons handle their ideals in Genshin. Zhongli does everything in Contracts, something that he places higher than life, because it's where he gets his power from. Raiden Ei is obsessed with Eternity, and fails to understand what her sister Matoko knew by heart, that Eternity exists in every moment and continuous on into the next moment, and is not an endless life time, Matoko even proves that she never really died, but continued to live in that one moment, and was able to be reborn as the Sacred Sakura Tree; where Ei even replaced her body with an Eternal Puppet, out of fear of erosion and the end of Eternity. Venti calls himself the weakest of the Seven Archons, because as Dainsleif explained in the Teyvat Story Chapter Preview: "What does Freedom really mean, when demanded of you by a God?", note that Venti avoids getting involved with Mondstadt's affairs, even going so far as to allow the Muratans to be massacred, because Venti couldn't enforce Freedom on his people (Including the Lawrence clan). Venti could only get involved after Vennesa had won the title, becoming a subject of Mondstadt, whose Freedom was under threat; this is also why he drinks himself into a stupor. So in a sense, the Sages are actually denying the people of Sumeru the opportunity to obtain true Wisdom, by feeding them a false sense of Education, while also starving Kusanali of her energy; this is why she told Dunyzard that she was not strong enough to save her, if no one believes in Kusanali, or obtains Wisdom the correct way, her power will wither. Regarding Kusanali's size, along with the Bird in a Cage analogy, it reminds me of a similar creature, a Goldfish in a Fish Bowl. Did you know that if a Goldfish is not kept in a contained environment, they will continue to grow to an immense size? Similarly, if you keep a plant in a pot, it's growth will be stunted. This could be the reason why Kusanali's size is still that of a child, she's never been allowed to grow outside of her confined space.
@@7umori Yeah, it took me a long time to realize it, but when it comes down to things, she's actually the closest character to him. Have you watched the live streams for Honkai Impact 3rd, particularly where the host appear in chibi form? During the Aponia and Eden reveal stream, the male host had on an Eden outfit, and it looked a lot like Zhongli, that was when I first made the connection, ever since then I've been taking comparative notes, and it's piled up. Note, the following wall of text is an analysis I wrote up based on my observations. lol "Regarding Zhongli's Honkai alter ego being Eden, I know it might be hard to accept, but she's literally the only character with remote similarities, and Zhongli is definitely not: Otto, Owl, either of the two Welts or APHO's protagonist. I've noticed a lot of people like to associate Owl with Zhongli, but the only evidence that might connect the two is the Divine Key 'Star of Eden', which Owl wields for a short time, but again, Star of Eden was originally Eden's weapon before Owl gained possession of it, which is also where it gets it's name from. Morax's name is the source for Mora, which is literally the same thing as Eden's code name Gold. Both are always found drinking wine. Both have a keen interest in the arts. Both take oaths and secrets extremely seriously, but will also help the 'Traveler/Mei' to the best of their abilities, while avoiding to tell them everything. Eden died with the old world in her final act, Morax staged his own death to start anew. Both share Christ symbolism through the Grail imagery and a God's willingness to die for/with their people. Eden's wealth and possessions were 'gifts' or 'offerings', which she will give away on a dime, because they have no monetary value to her; Zhongli, while being the god responsible for the creation of Mora, has no interest in it. Eden chose to die with the old world, because that was where her people were from; Zhongli states in his trailer: "I wish not for dominion, yet I cannot watch the common folk suffer"; both characters come from the perspective of putting others, or more specifically, the 'common good' before their own well being. Both share a similar color scheme, including dark brownish hair (Almost black) that parts in the same direction, having a section on the right hand side that is a little longer than the left (If Eden tied her back hair into a braid and allowed her forelocks to become unkempt, she would have the same hairstyle as Zhongli), they also both have yellowish golden eyes. As for outfits, Eden wears a long dark dress with brown and black colors, and Zhongli a long dark brownish green coat over black pants. Both characters keep their cool in times of extreme crisis, having no fear of death. Eden's Divine Key was Star of Eden, two of her last comments to Mei were: "I've never feared death in any form. For me, life is but a long play." and "May civilization blaze like meteors. May this world shine like gold.", Zhongli literally summons a Meteor, and creates all of Teyvat's Mora/Gold. Su also confirms that he witnessed a female version of himself in another parallel world, and 95% of the Stigmata in the Honkai series are gender-bent versions of real historical people, Einstein and Tesla are two examples of which who are active participants in the story. Mihoyo does this a lot, so with all this we shouldn't even have to consider Wendy and Venti's association. Simply put, the first two Archons were for whatever reason gender-bent to their original counterparts." I'm not really sure why they decided to change the genders of the first two Archons, but it seems to be the case, cause if you think about it Zhongli is actually more similar to Eden, at least in some cases, than Venti is to Wendy. When considering the identities of the other Archons, especially with Kusanali's association to Theresa, and if we consider: Pyro as Himeko Murate, Hydro as Seelie, and Cryo as Bronya; then Zhongli would pretty much have to be based off of someone from Honkai as well. As for Welt Yang, I think he might eventually be revealed as Xingqui's father, because Walt Joyce appears as a young, blue haired boy who has an obsession with books, and he actually shares Xingqui's voice actress (Japanese, I haven't been able to confirm the Chinese actresses identity). If that's the case, then Welt Yang will likely be a member of the Qixing, as four of it's members are still unknown, and Qingqui's family runs the Feiyun Commerce Guild, and has enough influence in Liyue that one of his parents is almost guaranteed to be one of the Qixing, or maybe even his older brother. As for potential candidates among the Qixing, Yaoguang seems like a good choice, as the name means Big Dipper, so it could be interpreted: Welt Yang (Big Dipper), Welt Joyce (Little Diper), or more specifically: Yaoguang (Big Dipper), Xingqui (Little Dipper).
@@Palsa-Achilleus it does link a lot, but what puzzles me is that zhongli was released before eden, so technically it means that eden was based on zhongli, haha
We now have a leak saying that kusanali is basically rukkadevata with amnesia after overusing her powers in the khaenriahan war. So you actually might be right
I loved this video and all the theories. They could all make sense. Personally I think that Kusanali is like a sprout. When Greater Lord “disappeared”it was like a tree in a sense. GLK was the tree that left a seed behind and tht seed is now growing and it’s just a small tree. That’s Kusanali. So it’s more like Nahida is am offspring? I’m a sense.
When she said she's the moon, i thought it intrepret as how sages hides her, because in tarot cards, moon can be mean "hidden secret", if i'm not wrong. especially in archon quest we did fortune too. i thought it might have some connection
Thank you so much for watching!
I hope you enjoy the video!
P.S. If you make fun of my pronunciation, you'll pull a Qiqi.
Jokes on you I would like a qiqi
Jokes on you, I want Qiqi >:))
*(I won’t make fun of you tho, you gud.)*
Jokes on you, I already lost the 50/50 and am now guaranteed
that's a win win
What if the dendro archon. Is still alive and we have been lied to cause the tsaritsa is the dendro archon 🤔
Until proven otherwise, I am thinking what actually happened is that Rukkhadevata tried to reincarnate, but somehow was interrupted by some Abyssal force in Khaenri'ah, either fracturing or even completely severing her consciousness from being able to transition into the new body. As a failsafe, the consciousness, heavily strained both from the battle that resulted in the attempted reincarnation and the failure of said reincarnation, was forced into Irminsul, while the empty vessel wove what little bits of the Greater Lord's essence together with the core network of the Akasha terminals, thus making a new consciousness of the 'lesser lord'.
We did see Irminsal burning in both the Sumeru and Fatui Trailers. And this is what is causing all the scholars to go insane as Irminsal is pretty much corrupted. Rukkhadevata might have linked her consciousness with Irminsal when she was dying. Seeing the damage done to Irminsal, she leaves the message to the scholars "World Forget Me".
@@surajvinod1567 Do keep in mind that we only got a fragment of the full message. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of whatever is the truth sooner or later...
The irony here is that dev are from China, and CCP is trying to seize the reincarnation of Dalai Lama in real world, so if you look at it, inspiration is not far away
@@atulit what are they even going to gain by seizing Dalai Lama.
@@atulit Noice, I agree
yes, Ruk = Kusa, she sacrifice all her memories and power to save sumeru and was reborn as Kusa without memories. It's the same in Arama's & Arana's story where using big burst of power will cost them their memories. It'll be perfect to watch the Sage's face when they find out the god they despise is actually the same god they worship.
Sumeru's happy ending is with the dance, it's time to get dark!
If she sacrificed her memories, maybe that's why she wanted people to forget her. Because by remembering her, she couldn't be forgotten and her sacrificed memories would be all fo nought.
I could be completely wrong tho
Wym dance? Like the dance sequence on Indian movies?
@@tinienteabanil2922 No, they were talking about the end of Archon Quest part 2
@@tinienteabanil2922 imagine the entire Sumeru by the end of the story just dance on the street Bollywood style
@@lw9194 LOL I'm imagining with a musical track and a hundred extras in the background
There already is a physical form to Kusanali. During the end of her archon quest when she is in Katheryn's body she said she is being held at a location by the sages and she is able to see the outside using the network. Piamon then makes a comment about Kusanali essentially being under house arrest. She already is in a physical form but has far greater access to the features of the network because she is the dendro archon. I hope she is released as a playable character in 3.2 and there is another archon quest where we free her from the sages.
She can be the consciousness trapped in the gnosis. She never said she could see the outside world through the windows or through any other means that aren't the Akasha.
I want Katheryne to be a playable character
She has prisoner cuffs on her feet likely meant to prevent her from walking. I assumed this was why she navigates through dreams
@@lemonadefor50cents61 I want Dunyarzad to be playable. What an amazing VA she deserves a playable character
If you go on the big tree and go even higher thank the akademia you can see a little place that could be the place where kusanali is trapped
I really liked your theory. It honestly makes a lot of sense paired with the Aranara quest line that focused on using a lot of power = losing memories. Could that elude that she might’ve used a large amount of power to stop whatever that was during the cataclysm in which resulted in her loss of memories?
this actually makes sense???
That’s the theory I came up with on a whim after playing both the archon and aranara quests but my friend thought it was a stretch. To add on, I remember during the aranara quest they kept repeating “the forest will remember” even if you loose your memory, I feel like that might have a connection with the “world…forget me” line
I just realized that they could probably be telling the story in plain sight with Arama being the representation of Kusanali. The former Ashvattha tree was too damaged to continue and Arama was needed to plant the new one. Marana represents the cataclysm 500 years ago. The "Ashvattha tree" in the dream world is the Irminsul itself. Kind of symmetrical that the Aranaras represent the dream world but their tree is on the real world while the Dendro Archon is on the opposite spectrum lol
If you think about it, Guoba also harnessed a lot of his power to save the people of Liyue from a certain disaster back then, and lost both his memories and most of his power. I figure something like this might've been in the works for the stories in Sumeru as well.
Plus, considering the region it's based on, I wouldn't rule out reincarnation being a theme this chapter is exploring. There's also all that connection with the Honkai lore & universe, but that's another story.
@@Garry033 Wait you have such a great point. It’s almost like a direct parallel placed in opposite states (dream/real world)
I talked to a friend of mine regarding the Sages of Sumeru, we came to the following conclusion before we finished the main quest (hell before the "dream" event). And that was "There's no Wisdom in Sumeru".
They all seemed to attached to the past, and their knowledge seemed to heavy on data than anything else. Wisdom isn't just data, it's everyday life experiences and observations alongside our ability to understand knowledge and those experiences. In fact, considering there's references that the Godess of Flowers did dance in the first feast for Rukkhadevata (I must have butchered the name >.
“The God of Wisdom’s enemy is wisdom itself, and the oasis of knowledge is a mirage in the desert of ignorance.” The last line of your comment reminded me the quote Dain said in teyvat chapter storyline.
@@avocado3-in-182 Literally not my intention but damn... well spotted.
>.
you spelled Rukkhadevata perfectly fine 👍
I also believe that Kusanali is Rukkhadevata in a Guoba-like state because if the Aranara quest taught me anything, it's that you can use your power (in the Aranara's case, their memories ARE their power) to achieve great things but lose who you previously were in return or in other words, a shell of your previous self.
Yeah, perhaps she lost her memories in order to end the cataclysm. Just like Arama sacrificed their memories (memories of life) in order to defeat Marana (the memories of death).
@@jryv2468 wasn't it arana sacrificing their memories? arama basically went to sarva and 'died', to become a tree that produces bija with arana's memory :)
Same theory here!! After completing Aranara quest...theres a possibility Greater Lord and Kusanali are same... She exhausted her power frim saving Sumeru from Catalysm and she become seed again (Kusanali) which the Sages found her and brought her back to Sumeru. And thus, Akasha system still functions despite losing the previous dendro archon. And similar to Aranara..they lose their memories when they exhaust their powers.. but the forest remembers...
Nice... You were right
woah ur actually right
I’m sure Sumeru will have a happy ending-
Damn, Hoyoverse got him already
Nah.. he knows Hoyoverse. The video cut off before he can complete the sentence and I think that is on purpose.
Honkai fans:
*oh you innocent fool...*
PepeLaugh happy ending
@@hm.5003 The princess Dehya protect literally has a good ending whereas the quest plot literally convince us that she died eventually we know all of them is a dream a lie she is still alive and live well, the seed of varanara is mixed sad and good but i think its a good ending because forest is saved, no its not Honkai its Genshin it has sad ending and good ending fairly shared
10:56 Probably worth mentioning that in the same scene the cage gets opened somehow and the bird escapes
That’s her consciousness
Don't forget the invisible crystal bird, from mona island
Considering how much importance was placed on the Guoba quest and showing how a god can give up their power for a greater purpose to be left with a depowered vessel.... that this might be where the story is heading. The aranaka quests give us an idea of how Kusanali can regain this power, by absorbing the memories contained within Irminsul. I think this gives a clear way forward as you theorise at the end. Sumeru as we know it will fall, Irminsul will be destroyed (freeing up the Gnosis for the fatui plotline) and Kusanali will ascend to her full godhood and become the playable character.
I don't think that Irminsul will be destroyed, because then whole Teyvat would be surrounded with chaos. It would be a dead end
I don't think she will be reclaiming any godly power. Venti, Zhongli and Raiden are all not terribly powerful in lore. Ei is an exception but you're playing as Raiden. Ei has no physical body. If they just give Kusanali all her power back it would be kind of immersion breaking so I don't think that will happen.
Irminsul cant be destroyed lol. That will the end of all ley lines which means you cant do any domains or world bosses.
She said that she isn't powerful enought to absorb the important knowledge of Irminsul yet. That's why she asked the traveler to help her to see what happens with that "forget me" in the end of the archon quest.
I beleave she will remember or see what happened in the past after some battle with the academia and will tell us some things and to continue our journey to find the truth.
Irminsul will not be destroyed as basically the whole forest and everything in sumeru are powered by the power of dendro, since it was basically a desert land and the archon used her power to increase vegetation.
Waiting with guarenteed pity xD
Edit: the sudden cut at the end made this a 13/10 from an 11/10
What made you believe that any normal civilian will be able to change the look of a statue of the seven? Whenever you upgrade a statue, at certain intervals, the looks change to become more exquisite. Not only that, it gets updated throughout the entire region. You could see rubble gathering and forming parts of the statue by magic. Even when the abyss order took venti's statue and turned it upside down, they couldnt actually change the appearance of it.
"Even if a person is stuck in a cave, their consciousness will travel all over the 4 directions".
Kusanali is the in game representation of budisathwas himself.
Everything from lotuses and flowers to reincarnation until destined time.
Give us your take of kusanali in your channel @Ekamin
With all the new Sumeru lore, I think it would be cool to see an updated version of the chessboard theory.
I think it would be better if that video is released after the Sumeru archon quest ends
Hopefully one day I get my thoughts together to get it done ^^
That first theory certainly aged well
Kusalani does exist in the physical world, but she’s basically trapped in the sanctuary of surusthana by the sages. They put her there to “protect” her at first but never let her out after that. Kusalani said so during the end of act 2 of the Sumeru archon quest, where you ask her a bunch of questions when she is Katheryne.
The archon quest literally said that Kusanali is basically put under house arrest by the sages, so I'm not sure how that's a theory when it's openly explained already.
It sounds like he didn't finish the archon quest himself or something.
Chill
@@FranciscoJG he didn’t.. literally go look at his videos
Oh boy I can barely wait for Kusanali's story quest to happen. We all know it will, it's only a matter of when. Probably around her first or second banner, like Ei.
Thank you for the subtitles. It made watching your video much more enjoyable, and I like your theory of having Kusanali being a combination of the 3, as well as the caged bird theory. I'm looking forward to your future lore videos, Sumeru clearly has a lot hidden from us.
I thought Paimon's question was so strange as well! Glad I'm not the only one
I think it's hinting that Kusanali is Rukkhadevata
Edit: Finished the video. Yes! This is almost the same theory I had! I think the Aranara quest ties directly to Kusanali and Rukkhadevata, after all we know they are closely related already
Reminds me of erwin in aot 😂
she ended up really being Rukkhadevata‼️
I just started watching, and THIS IS SO GOOD! I sided with the idea that the Sot7 was of Rukkhadevata, but it never occurred to me that it could be both. I subscribe to Theory 3, because the crazier the better!
I have a crack theory that Kusanali is what's powering the Akasha System, or that she's the actual "legacy left by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata." I think this, because of what you've mentioned about Kusanali's imprisonment. Also the fact that when the Terminal reset every night during Act 2, *the beep sounded more like the tweet of a little bird.*
i mean idk, because in the trailer Kusanali states that the son (Rukkhadevata) is long gone and referencing herself as the moon basically is making herself seem as a completely different entity.
@@dazaichan9970 She's being very poetic, in an attempt to get a more complex idea across. Kusanali's really into allegory. The Moon is its own being, but it doesn't shine without the Sun. Meaning that her "shine", whatever it might be, isn't her own but sourced from Rukkhadevata, the "Sun."
I think she might be a clone, or something of an offshoot of the Greater Lord. Not only because of the resemblance she bears to Teri-Teri, but also the fact that in plant terms, a tree can grow an offshoot sapling by one of its roots. Essentially, a tree can clone itself. And since this is all about Dendro, I can't ignore these possibilities.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We'll just have to wait for the story to develop more, so we can have more solid info on the Dendro Archon.
I liked the theory about kusalai being the represent of the three deities which explain that they have 3 Gods, in Sumeru.
You should also look into the Tridevi, the consorts of the Trimurti: Saraswarti, Lakshmi, and Parvati.
Reading into this, I think there's a chance that Kusanali is a reincarnation, embodiment, and/or replication of a god- but not of Rukkhadevata.
There's still a larger chance Kusanali
is Rukkha's clone, but if Rukkha was the one who made her, I don't think she'd recreate herself, especially if you take "World... forget me" superficially. Instead, I think Rukkha tried to clone the Goddess of Flowers, the one who brought joy and prosperity and held a unique sense of cunning and wisdom amongst the three sage-kings of Sumeru, and the one who was universally so beloved the whole of Sumeru mourned her death, including the Scarlet King who went mad thereafter to pursue his form of utopia for his people.
It's an unorganized theory, but I can't help but wonder what if.
I also think something like that when Nilou tell the tale of the Padisarah.
Rukkhadevata tries to recreate the flower representing her friend, but can't get the color right.
Also there is something very disturbing about The Lord of Flowers
She used to be a god that all Sumeru loved. She was the vital piece of the paradise of the ancient past. The other gods want to keep pieces of her legacy and ideal to continue blessing their people.
And now she only appears in some stories related to other gods, or some tales told by some surviving Jinns. Also, not a single Lord of Flowers devotee remains.
@@shrimpkanchou1276 some of the lore surrounding her suggests she actually planned out her death in such a way that it would have preserved her legacy forever... like what?
So many lore pieces focus on how Rukkhadevata and the Scarlet King coped with her death, and I have to wonder if it would bear any relevance to the archon quest.
@@CapriciousRhapsody most of her lore come from the artifacts and Weapon Ascension materials, which no one can get except the Traveller.
That means normal people have little to no knowledge about her, and Traveller knows a bit more than that.
It gets so bad that:
1. That certain Eremite group blames Rukkhadevata for killing their god, and have no idea of his copium overdose (he went mad due to grief and sacrifice himself and his people to create an hivemind)
2. The Akademiya got The Scroll of the Streaming Song, but they have no idea that it's about The Lord of Flowers and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata
@@shrimpkanchou1276 True. Hm... a lot to consider regarding the GoF...
havent finished the video, but i wanted say this rn before i forget. when @IslandXD mentioned that kununali could be a reincarnation to rukkhadevata, it made me think on why the academia would keep her in her room all day and night. perhaps they are actually protective of her and are afraid of losing their archon yet again. Or maybe they are attempting to bring back rukkhadevata by bring memories back to kusunali. how are they doing this? maybe the reason why the acedemia is harvesting dreams to begin with is to eventually connect themselves with irminsul. irminsul may still have memories of greater lord rukkhadevata, and the acedamia is trying to harvest that to put it inside kusunali. i'll gather more of thoughts after the video.
This guy gave us a leak ...
Also the cage bird in chasm and in sumeru is now out of the cage....
This guy freaking got it, you mad lad
I finally can watch this video because I finished Aranyaka last night, and I just wanna say this video is an absolute banger. Nice job, dude!!
I have a theory that Greater Lord and Lesser Lord are the same person. Greater Lord just lost her memory just like how the Aranara do.
Like Gouba. Also Consider the Aranara. As Familars of the Dendro Archon. It makes sense that the Dendro Archon is also related to memories.
Yeeeeaah... Well that's what the video also said is an option
@@jonnychill711 I made this comment before I watched the whole vid
@@silverhawkscape2677 Right! I forgot the same happened to Gouba! I lowkey hope this theory is wrong, if so, hoyo made it too easy to guess 💀
@@skye4942 ok now it makes sense
There is something really connected to dreams, makoto, Rukkadevata, all the smart gods talked about dreams and seems to prioritize it. Maybe "dreams" is a way to escape the prison you said about in your previous new theory
Im so excited for the next archon quest and Kasunali banner.
I don't remember the exact words, but in the archon quest Kusanali actually tells the Traveler that the sages are keeping her locked in the shrine at the top of the Sumeru tree. So yeah, no need to fully rely on the "bird in a cage" interpretation, she literally confirms herself that she's trapped. You might have missed that part.
Sanctuary of Surasthana.
She never confirmed she's trapped in a bionic vessel though
For all we know, she might be trapped in a gnosis placed on a shelf
NAH BRO HE IS TOO SMART
This video is a fucking masterpeice the amount of work, thinking and rescearch that must have went into this is amazing.. So im commenting for the algorithm so that many more people can watch this
With your videos my learning curve will shrink drastically. Thank you.
Sadly they'll always be players being mad at this. Saying this is boring and predictable and that Kusanali should have been like...Rukkadevata daughter or something.
Even thought fits with the world.
They're also the same people who speed run events on day 1 and complain genshin doesn't have things to do or they skip the dialogues that are full of nuances.
The reincarnation idea makes sense when you question how Kusanali immediately became the new dendro archon after being born
Clueless surely Sumeru will have a happy en-
Rapsys
"I'm sure Sumeru will have a happy en-" *cut to black*
Ok, subscribed.
Thank you for your hard work Island!! I always enjoy your videos and streams 😊 This theory makes me so excited all over again to find out what happens next! And genius ending LOL
Thanks for watching!
1) Your theory about the statue hit me like a car. I always assumed Rukkhadevata was an adult woman because the sages were always talking about her so highly so in my mind, they didn't like Kuku because she's a kid....Holy hell. That sounds so insane.
2) I kinda agree with the three deities theory. One of my personal theory was that Kuku was Rukkhadevata reborn but just with the goddess of flowers' powers. I didn't think about the scarlet king.
3) I don't think the Irmisul tree will actually be destroyed. If this is the only Irmisul tree, the stakes are way too high. If the tree is destroyed in any shape or form, teyvat itself will be thrown into chaos and possibly not exist anymore. So far it's only sick but at the end of the day, it won't get destroyed.
this video aged well unlike other theories
If I recall one of the Aranara next to the statue in Vararama just straight up says the statue represents Rhukkadevata. I'm also pretty certain Nahida was a seed of Rhukkadevata's consciousness planted right before she died so that's why she looks the same. Also Nahida does have a physical body, it's just locked away by the akademia so she can only be seen in dreams by most people
Now that I finished all the Archon Quest & those chain Quest from Aranara (Took me weeks, and got to AR 60 as I finished), I will watch this video with ease, as I write down my impression.
2:23 Seeing this scene as Aether traveller hits different
8:14 Now that I finished the Aranara's quest. It is literally madness to think the sages took all of adult Sumeru people's dream, where through dream and memories people can be preserved and gives power to trees. No wonder the withering zone keeps popping up with no ends. No power to sustain the Marana. Then, finger crossed they would use it to heal the Irminsul tree (as supposed to stop Withering Zone too)
12:41 Nice cut there, lol.
Great video as always! Easy to understand. Really appreciate it
Holy moly.. Your theory about Kusanali - One thing to say: *Chef's Kiss*. I truly had my suspicions towards this paralels between Kusa and Rukkha, but..god damn, you enlightened me even more on this subject! Terrific video fam!
This is quite a crazy theory, because we didn't knew Rukkadevata's real apperance. But there's a big problem: if the Irminsul tree (master tree particularly) is destroyed, how we store the knowledge? Books? Or some sort of recorder?
I'm sure that Irminsul isn't just for storing memories. But also have other role for Teyvat's existence
Not only that but Ashikai mentioned in one of her latest vids that the Aranara think that the Irminsul tree is what's keeping the whole world as is, meaning that if it get's destroyed then bye bye Teyvat.
@@wildwolfdante i'd discard that.
@@RejectedInch It's linked to all leylines, domains, and elemental energy itself. Should it be destroyed, all of Teyvat would be akin to Khaenriah.
We don't know Rukkadevata's appearance, but we do know her voice. She has the same voice as Nahida. At the end of the Archon quest, when we ask Nahida about the voice saying "World forget me"...Nahida says it's probably Rukkadevata. I remember this dialogue because I was like "Girl, that sounds like YOUR voice??"
Thanks, it's very interesting!
holy I never seen a super thanks on my channel. THANK YOU!
@@IslandXD it's a pleasure 💜 quack
It's 13 mins of island theory vid omg
Thanks for the vid
Finally someone noticed what I did! Rukkedevata=Kusanali obviously!!
Edit: The initial theories are unlikely.
As Occam's razor states, the simplest explanation is the most likely.
We already know that the Bija is the sacrifice of memories in order to heal (in the case we know, the sacrifice of Arana to heal Rana). Since the Aranara are a product of Rukkedevata's power, it's not impossible that Rukkedevata made a Bija, being herself the sacrifice, to fight against the Cataclysm and save the Irminsul tree.
There's no need for embodiment or reincarnation.
Also, Kusanali exists physically, she says that herself. She's just locked up by the sages which she also states, and therefore can only communicate through dreams and the Akasha system.
She's in that green palace on top of the Sumeru tree. She literally says that.
I agree. I think the sages are pulling an Otto here. They said they found the newly reborn denro archon but proceeds to deny her as their denro archon. I think they can't accept that Kusanali looks the same as Rukkhadevata but isn't Rukkhadevata, and are now in denial. Trying to suppress Kusanali's existence and are now trying to Revive Rukkhadevata.
Except, Otto didn't try and suppress Theresa. He loved her as his granddaughter. The sages are different. They loathed Kusanali's existence. Im really conflicted with my on comment now. I can't shake the feeling that there are still a lot of info missing. Now i really want that next story quest.
the story is already leaked, dottore and akademiya is trying to make their own archon with scaramouche as the base not revive rukha, the sages already hate rukha from the beggining
@@danidan2174 please put spoiler and make a huge space between it
man… here to say u were right
I think the background music can be a bit too loud at some point in the video. But the content is great. :D I'm leaning towards the reincarnation theory. It fits the theme they're going with Sumeru quite well.
Don't forget the words from Rhukkadevata "Let the world forget me" or something like this.
Absolutely beautifully edited my God!
10:30 her being held hostage makes sense because of the leg cuffs she has, which can hurt her if she tries to run
This is so riveting, thank you for sharing this idea!
This has aged really well
Another thing is Sumeru's statue of the seven. The archon's statue looks like a small kid but wearing an oversized robe. Maybe it's hinting that someone just shrinked into a smaller version, perhaps reincarnated. And because of the statue's posture as well, seems in a dormant state.
This is why we can't pull Nahida early unlike the other Archons. We have to "set her free" in a future Archon Quest for her to become 'playable' i.e. to (in-game-wise) "join" the Traveler for his adventures.
This video age like a fine wine.
Judging by how all the main stories in Sumeru were somehow connected to the idea of the subconscious, memories and dreams, the idea of Nahida/Kusanali being a reincarnation is guaranteed in my opinion.
Good theory, sumeru story end showing the statue is in fact for both
awesome vid... love your choice of clips btw... cant wait for everything to unfold
Ooo nice timing. I am currently digging on as much crumbs I can get on Naibita
k so i just saw the lastest leaks and apparently his 1st theory was spot on
so :))
My headcanon is that during the Khaenrian Cataclysm, Rukkhadevata's might've asked for Istaroth's aid in orchastrating the "current reality" of Sumeru, wherein a fragment of her consciousness became Kusanali (similar to the idea of a tree spreading "seeds", which are curiously similar not only to Aranara but also to the analogies we use for wisdom, knowledge and understanding: seeds sowed into the fertile soil that is the mind), while the rest of her was absorbed into Irminsul. That said, maybe Abyssal technology was able to "corrupt" her consciousness and thus, the issue with the Tree of Ley Lines emerges.
lol that cutoff at the end. We don't even get to hear him say "this is just a theory".
it is now clear. since Rukhadevata sacrificed herself for the people of the desert, I think her story will be similar to the story of Aranara who tried to help Rana and then forgot all of us. the same thing happened to kusanali, even though they were the same person they were different because kusanali forgot everything.
Yeah, I know Lord Rukadavata born again as Kusunali. This is all hidden in dialogues.
Love that cutoff at the end...given MiHoYo track record, we can only be afraid of what's next.
Man the theory kindda sounds good also a good transition 1:23
Its not the first time we see a god losing memories and identity after using much of their power, the same happened to guoba he also shrinked in size
Kusanali embodying the three gods
Goddess of Flowers: Pretty speculative from the 2.1 patch that Kusanali is the god of Flowers, and if she is, she might be the reincarnation of the old Goddess of Flowers
Scarlet King: The sages chose to not acknowledge Kusanali's existence to rule Sumer because they only believe Rukkhadevata, but them locking her physical form might have a reason (reminds me of the Sunchildren), just like how the Scarlet king descent into madness after the Goddess of Flower's death
God of Woods/previous dendro archon: has a wisdom, and the sages knew that Kusanali is being suitable to be the center of the akasha terminal
Edit: There is a problem about the Irminsul Tree
The irminsul tree contains the memories through the leylines, and if the irminsul tree is destroyed (which from the theory suggested would have Kusanali severed ties with it), what would happen to the memories of the past in the ley lines? Will they likely be destroyed and erased?
I think that Sumeru would be the first nation that we'll see go down.
Especially Knowledge wise.
Wait a minute, so the Irminsul gonna get destroyed and that means knowledge stored on the Irminsul will be destroyed, which means Sumeru was gonna get a new beginning and will use the dream ideology to regain the knowledge. That means Kusanali will help the people to regain knowledge and she will gain the trust of everyone in Sumeru by using dreams. Right?
After reading the newly leak info, this is amazingly accurate. You got a sub by me. Not telling which tho but the whole idea fits it.
how does it feel to be right!?
once again, love ur theory videos as always!!! 🌸
Another incredible video! Keep them coming
I wish I could hear what you're saying better, I'm listening to this in the background but the background music is sometimes louder than your voice. Like at 3:15. If possible to lower the background music when it's really hyped so I can hear you better. 🥺🙏 Love the video btw!🥰
update:
the truth is fucking heartbreaking
Some of your theories actually line up with rumors here and there, but god damn it still blows my mind
World.. forget me…
Another awesome theory vid! My take is that just like arama (finished the aranara questline days ago..) rukkhadevata or queen aranyani she became the irminsul tree and was reincarnated into nahida. I think..
Nahida is rukhadevata, as per king deshrets message in the archon quest.
Another Great Video Island!!!
damn. this tickles my mind in the right way. thanks for the vid IslandxD
The ending really just said e n d
maybe Kusanali is like the aranara: when Rukkhadevata used up much of her power she forgot and shrink and became Kusanali
I enjoy the theories!
I believe that wisdom suffers obtaining true freedom for itself/themselves. And why trials before them are challenging. Not to exclude any other things ofc!
I am curious on how ur theory on Dottore in the future will be! 🤣 Considering his major ‘appearance’ near the beginning of Sumeru itself then later on.
Listen,the guy probably only is portrayed as a madman due to wanting to walk a path no one (close minded people) would rather and are afraid to take on. Sometimes people take those paths knowing well that judgement of other’s opinions will rise,and it is resilience that will get them through those kinds of hardships.
I think Dottore will have a interesting lore. Sometimes u got to look crazy in order to understand truth. Sometimes,certain actions are necessary to be taken upon to find a solution for the impossible to make it possible.
Fantastic video
I'd like to believe that the physical form of Nahida we see in the archon quest actually is what Rukkhadevata looked like, and that Kusanali only exists as a concept, a person in the realm of dreams (similar to how Ei only "existed" in her own plane of Euthymia for a long time). We've seen before that Kusanali can take control of bodies (Katheryne), it would make sense to, if she just wants to speak for herself, use the previous dendro archon's body for that.
It would also explain why the statue could look like both, simply because one uses the appearance of the other for themselves.
I do think it's highly unlikely, but as I said I'd like to think it's this way :) it's just an idea!
How do you feel being spot on (particularly with the second theory)
I would also like to point out that we don't know if the statues were made by humans at all. In fact, there's lore hinting at the fact that they aren't. Particularly, how Watatsumi island has a statue of the seven, that they seem resentful of (as they are resentful of the god as well) so obviously, they didn't build it, but it is also entirely possible that Makoto had people carry and plant a statue over there. We just don't know
But it's going to be interesting to see in Fontaine if the statues resemble the god of the archon wars or the current god (granted they don't pull another twin situation)
So basically: You used the wrong equation but you arrived at the right answer, so well done
Even Kusanali said it herself, SHE is the FIRST Ahasha terminal meaning without her the system would not work. The Akasha system was the first Dendro archon's gift with the Gnosis power, but the Akasha terminals were created with Kusanali power (aka dream power) being the source of energy used to access it. The people of Sumeru could not as freely access the Akasha without the terminals the sages created with Kusanali power. Of Course, they don't want her to roam free now, she's been caged since she was brought to Sumeru city and left alone for under 500 years... they built the system around their caged Archon to rule the nation.
Very interesting vid :) I enjoyed watching!
For people having trouble understanding how the Honkai series ties into the theory, here are several things to understand. All of the Archons reflect a playable character from the Honkai series:
Venti - Wendy (Wind/Anemo, gender-bent)
Zhongli - Eden (Gold/Mora, gender-bent)
Raiden Ei - Raiden Mei (Original, Lightning/Electro)
Raiden Matoko - Dr. Mei (HoT battlesuit)
Raiden Shogun - Raiden Mei (Herrscher of Thunder)
Nahida - Theresa Apocalypses (Never aging source of Wisdom)
Hydro Archon - (Likely Seele, Water/Hydro symbolism, the Balancing Scale of Justice)
Murata - Himeko Murata/Captain Himeko (Fire/Pyro symbolism, HoF battlesuit, Herrscher of Flames)
Tsaritsa - (Likely Bronya, Ice/Cryo symbolism, Herrscher of Reason attacks with Ice, Silver Wing attacks with Ice, Star Rail Bronya is Wind but has Ice Sickles and Snow on her outfit, Beta testers also claim the Tsaritsa is referred to in early game as Bronya, adopted mother of Bronya in Star Rail is an Ice Deity Boss based off of Herrscher of Ice's power and form.)
All of which are playable characters, though Wendy is only playable in Houkai Gakuen 2, and it also seems that she might be getting resurrected soon in HG2, though I don't play it.
Regarding Kusanali, her power is Dendro, but the source of her power is her ideal, which is Wisdom (Think of it like a battery with a + and -).
True Wisdom can only be obtained through one's own personal experiences, this is why she leads the Traveler to form their own conclusions, rather than flat out telling them what is going on. Education is not the same thing as Wisdom, as Education is obtaining someone else's knowledge, without having the experience or understanding of it's actual meaning or source of origin (Akasha Terminal). Likewise, Education is almost always doctored by people with no relation to the original source information, long before it gets past down by word of mouth, before finally arriving on paper, making it a perversion of the truth at best, hence the age old phrase: "The Winners of the War are the Writers of the History Books", or as Assassin's Creed put it: "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted".
Here is a short story from Greek mythology, to better understand how divinity works, it should also make it clear what Kusanali and the other Archons are going through.
Ancient Greece was experiencing a time of happiness and productivity, and the people wanted to show their appreciation to Eirene, the Goddess of Peace, so they held a banquet in her honor, inviting all of the Gods and Goddesses to attend. During the festivities, the humans noticed that the Goddess Eirene seemed unhappy, she didn't touch any of the food or say a single word. To this, the people of Greece voiced their concerns, after all, they put a lot of work into the banquet, which was in her honor, so she could have at least shown some appreciation in return. One of the Gods (A War God) stood up and called the people fools, explaining that Eirene was a Goddess of Peace, yet the people slaughtered animals and disrupted the crops to provide food in her name; as a Goddess of Peace, she obtains her power through the actions of Peace, and anything that disrupts Peace was harmful to her being.
We actually see this in how the Archons handle their ideals in Genshin.
Zhongli does everything in Contracts, something that he places higher than life, because it's where he gets his power from.
Raiden Ei is obsessed with Eternity, and fails to understand what her sister Matoko knew by heart, that Eternity exists in every moment and continuous on into the next moment, and is not an endless life time, Matoko even proves that she never really died, but continued to live in that one moment, and was able to be reborn as the Sacred Sakura Tree; where Ei even replaced her body with an Eternal Puppet, out of fear of erosion and the end of Eternity.
Venti calls himself the weakest of the Seven Archons, because as Dainsleif explained in the Teyvat Story Chapter Preview: "What does Freedom really mean, when demanded of you by a God?", note that Venti avoids getting involved with Mondstadt's affairs, even going so far as to allow the Muratans to be massacred, because Venti couldn't enforce Freedom on his people (Including the Lawrence clan). Venti could only get involved after Vennesa had won the title, becoming a subject of Mondstadt, whose Freedom was under threat; this is also why he drinks himself into a stupor.
So in a sense, the Sages are actually denying the people of Sumeru the opportunity to obtain true Wisdom, by feeding them a false sense of Education, while also starving Kusanali of her energy; this is why she told Dunyzard that she was not strong enough to save her, if no one believes in Kusanali, or obtains Wisdom the correct way, her power will wither.
Regarding Kusanali's size, along with the Bird in a Cage analogy, it reminds me of a similar creature, a Goldfish in a Fish Bowl.
Did you know that if a Goldfish is not kept in a contained environment, they will continue to grow to an immense size? Similarly, if you keep a plant in a pot, it's growth will be stunted. This could be the reason why Kusanali's size is still that of a child, she's never been allowed to grow outside of her confined space.
i didn’t realise zhongli and eden were related, xd people were always saying he was welt
@@7umori Yeah, it took me a long time to realize it, but when it comes down to things, she's actually the closest character to him.
Have you watched the live streams for Honkai Impact 3rd, particularly where the host appear in chibi form? During the Aponia and Eden reveal stream, the male host had on an Eden outfit, and it looked a lot like Zhongli, that was when I first made the connection, ever since then I've been taking comparative notes, and it's piled up.
Note, the following wall of text is an analysis I wrote up based on my observations. lol
"Regarding Zhongli's Honkai alter ego being Eden, I know it might be hard to accept, but she's literally the only character with remote similarities, and Zhongli is definitely not: Otto, Owl, either of the two Welts or APHO's protagonist. I've noticed a lot of people like to associate Owl with Zhongli, but the only evidence that might connect the two is the Divine Key 'Star of Eden', which Owl wields for a short time, but again, Star of Eden was originally Eden's weapon before Owl gained possession of it, which is also where it gets it's name from. Morax's name is the source for Mora, which is literally the same thing as Eden's code name Gold. Both are always found drinking wine. Both have a keen interest in the arts. Both take oaths and secrets extremely seriously, but will also help the 'Traveler/Mei' to the best of their abilities, while avoiding to tell them everything. Eden died with the old world in her final act, Morax staged his own death to start anew. Both share Christ symbolism through the Grail imagery and a God's willingness to die for/with their people. Eden's wealth and possessions were 'gifts' or 'offerings', which she will give away on a dime, because they have no monetary value to her; Zhongli, while being the god responsible for the creation of Mora, has no interest in it. Eden chose to die with the old world, because that was where her people were from; Zhongli states in his trailer: "I wish not for dominion, yet I cannot watch the common folk suffer"; both characters come from the perspective of putting others, or more specifically, the 'common good' before their own well being. Both share a similar color scheme, including dark brownish hair (Almost black) that parts in the same direction, having a section on the right hand side that is a little longer than the left (If Eden tied her back hair into a braid and allowed her forelocks to become unkempt, she would have the same hairstyle as Zhongli), they also both have yellowish golden eyes. As for outfits, Eden wears a long dark dress with brown and black colors, and Zhongli a long dark brownish green coat over black pants. Both characters keep their cool in times of extreme crisis, having no fear of death. Eden's Divine Key was Star of Eden, two of her last comments to Mei were: "I've never feared death in any form. For me, life is but a long play." and "May civilization blaze like meteors. May this world shine like gold.", Zhongli literally summons a Meteor, and creates all of Teyvat's Mora/Gold. Su also confirms that he witnessed a female version of himself in another parallel world, and 95% of the Stigmata in the Honkai series are gender-bent versions of real historical people, Einstein and Tesla are two examples of which who are active participants in the story. Mihoyo does this a lot, so with all this we shouldn't even have to consider Wendy and Venti's association. Simply put, the first two Archons were for whatever reason gender-bent to their original counterparts."
I'm not really sure why they decided to change the genders of the first two Archons, but it seems to be the case, cause if you think about it Zhongli is actually more similar to Eden, at least in some cases, than Venti is to Wendy.
When considering the identities of the other Archons, especially with Kusanali's association to Theresa, and if we consider: Pyro as Himeko Murate, Hydro as Seelie, and Cryo as Bronya; then Zhongli would pretty much have to be based off of someone from Honkai as well. As for Welt Yang, I think he might eventually be revealed as Xingqui's father, because Walt Joyce appears as a young, blue haired boy who has an obsession with books, and he actually shares Xingqui's voice actress (Japanese, I haven't been able to confirm the Chinese actresses identity). If that's the case, then Welt Yang will likely be a member of the Qixing, as four of it's members are still unknown, and Qingqui's family runs the Feiyun Commerce Guild, and has enough influence in Liyue that one of his parents is almost guaranteed to be one of the Qixing, or maybe even his older brother. As for potential candidates among the Qixing, Yaoguang seems like a good choice, as the name means Big Dipper, so it could be interpreted: Welt Yang (Big Dipper), Welt Joyce (Little Diper), or more specifically: Yaoguang (Big Dipper), Xingqui (Little Dipper).
@@Palsa-Achilleus it does link a lot, but what puzzles me is that zhongli was released before eden, so technically it means that eden was based on zhongli, haha
We now have a leak saying that kusanali is basically rukkadevata with amnesia after overusing her powers in the khaenriahan war. So you actually might be right
"Is that Rukkhadevata? She become so small in the last moment"
You mean this line in 3.1 leaks?
@@myaava6608 yep. The leaker said that this refers to kusanali losing her memories and becoming smaller similar to how guoba did
i cant focus to your theory, the BGM makes me dancing!!.
Love your analogy , story telling. good job. Nice way to e....
Me: Wants to focus on theory
Also me: Vibing with sumeru theme
Damn sumeru music hits hard..
I loved this video and all the theories. They could all make sense. Personally I think that Kusanali is like a sprout. When Greater Lord “disappeared”it was like a tree in a sense. GLK was the tree that left a seed behind and tht seed is now growing and it’s just a small tree. That’s Kusanali. So it’s more like Nahida is am offspring? I’m a sense.
When she said she's the moon, i thought it intrepret as how sages hides her, because in tarot cards, moon can be mean "hidden secret", if i'm not wrong. especially in archon quest we did fortune too. i thought it might have some connection