[2.5] The Beginner's Guide to Genshin Impact Lore - Mondstadt

If you ever wanted to get into the lore of Genshin Impact but wasn't quite sure where to start, you're in the right place! This Beginner's Guide to Mondstadt is part of a series of videos where I will be covering the lore of Genshin Impact in a nutshell. Excellent for beginners and new players to get a very quick understanding of kinda complicated histories, and also useful for experienced lore enthusiasts who just want a quick refresher.

This guide is NOT a comprehensive one. It's meant to be used as a framework upon which you can deepen your understanding. Therefore, there are a lot of things left unmentioned.

I have also made a couple of assumptions which will be outlined below.

**TIMESTAMPS**
0:00 Introduction & Disclaimer
1:30 Old Mondstadt
5:21 Rise of the Anemo Archon
9:26 Era of Aristocracy
11:35 Rise of the Knights of Favonius
13:00 The Cataclysm
16:24 Outro

**ASSUMPTIONS**

1) Barbatos is the wisp of wind that answered the prayers of the Gunnhildr Clan - This is not actually explicitly stated anywhere but thus far the only wind spirit mentioned in game is Barbatos. If it's not him, then a wind wisp basically appeared and then disappeared with no explanation.

2) Barbatos went from the Gunnhildr Clan to Old Mondstadt - The order of events is also unclear. I made this assumption purely because it makes sense that answering the cries of the clan would be the best way for him to learn about what's happening in the city.

3) The Red Headed Knight was a predecessor of the Raginvindr clan - This is mostly because the knight in the cutscene looks exactly like Diluc's father, Crepes. Also not explicitly stated anywhere.

4) Venessa chose to be a gladiator before pissing off the Lawrence clan - This is ambiguous and the exact point of time this occurred is unclear. I made this assumption because it made sense to the video's narrative.

**HELPFUL LINKS**

- Genshin Impact Manga

- Genshin Impact Wiki

- Genshin Impact Youtube Channel

**Links to get you started:**

- Crimson Witch of Flames

- Gods (Decarabian, Andrius/Boreas, Barbatos/Venti, Dvalin)

- City of Mondstadt, Old and New

- Era of Aristocracy

- Noble Clans

- Misc

[Ashikai]

**NOTES**

- Correction: Venessa didn't directly defeat Ursa. Venti drove him away with a wink(?). Perhaps it would have been better to write, "As a result of Venessa's bravery and with the help of Barbatos, Ursa was driven away, not seen again for another thousand years."

- Clarification: The official title of the "Four Winds" wasn't actually established until the Era of Aristocracy, but as far as we know the roles of each of the winds basically remained the same prior to them obtaining an official title.

[niallfarrell]

I love that shes basically adopted Yanfei as an avatar for these videos. Much better than when she was regularly switching them.

[gimbo]

i read quite a bit of the lore as research, so i was already aware of all this, but it is a great video and reference point. And so, I’d like to talk about Andrius a bit more.
He is not a fan of humanity, but he doesn’t hate them. He sees them as disappointing, dishonest, what have you, but acknowledges that it is the fault of the masses, not the individual, hence why he adopted razor and other human infants in the past. he welcomes them into his band of outcasts, but is always aware that even humans raised by wolves are still humans. they are inherently different, and are not to be involved in wolf matters, but he still sees them as his own.
upon decarabian’s defeat, and being presented with the opportunity to become the archon, he knew he did not love humanity the way an archon should, and declined the position. he also realized that his powers were not suited to harbor and nurture life, and allowed his physical body to reenter the earth and land but he still remains as a spirit to protect the wolves and raise any infants that end up on his doorstep.
he still agreed to become one of the four winds, though. whether it is for his wolves alone, any humans that come his way, a general love for and protectiveness over mondstadt, or simply because barbatos asked, i dont know, but i think hes a very fascinating character that i would like to see more of.

tl;dr he holds a distasteful but largely neutral opinion of humanity and what humans become as they grow older, but welcomes outcasts and babies since they are impressionable and can be better what humanity would make them. because of this, he chose to decline the role of archon.

[leolencheski]

Theory: because venti was able to friend various "monsters" (andrius + dvalin) along with many other "heroes" (nameless bard, Vanessa, the clans, ect) that's why friendship (or lack there of) is a common theme between anemo vision users

[EasyWater]

I just love the little wordplay they have with "Lionfang" and "Dandelion" knight as a german it really amuses me since they basically both mean "Löwenzahn" in German. Löwenzahn could mean lionfang if you talk about the animal or dandelion if you talk about the flower.

[thattrickytrickster]

I do feel Mondstadt has an even bigger part to play in the story of Genshin Impact. Despite it being the very first nation we explore, it could very well be the last or second to the last nation we could return to since it is closest to Celestia.

[thanhthanhlu]

Lovely idea, really refreshing to get to know Mondstadt once again.

Side suggestion: Maybe you can put the source of the info [book, quest, artifact set, item, etc.) somewhere on the screen (in a corner, for example). That way, when new info that may conflict current info comes out, we can have easy and quick reference

[PositiviteaTheFirst]

If the rumors that we'll eventually get an expansion into Northern Mondstadt, including Dornman Port, in the future is true, we may get more information behind Istaroth's involvement with Barbatos and Mondstadt which means an even deeper look into Mondstadt's past and history.

[Jakeyosaurus]

This is a great series idea, can't wait for the rest! :)

[navydavy]

"you knew the full lore of Mondstadt but have you forgot?" THAT'S ME LMAO

[shwedoo-]

This is such an amazing idea! With this I will at least know where to start when it comes to understanding genshin lore. Please do this for other regions as well. ^-^

[okamitama]

Great idea! I'll watch the full series!
On a side note, Mondo really gives me early Attack on Titan vibes with the whole theme of freedom, birds and walls. Both of them are kinda based on Germany too.

[VenusEllie-ovuc]

Mondstadt is the best zone with the best characters for sure

[SilverDroid]

I think Barbatos also slept cuz he too was infected by the Abyss just like Dvalin. But unlike Dvalin who injested alot Venti was able to remove all of it.

[sumi_z]

Oh my goodness, I just got a random thought. Remember how in the Raiden Shogun Story Quest Act 2, we actually got to see spirits of the dead appearing due to the damage done to the Sacred Sakura? What if Andrius is also the same? What if there's a major ley line root that is perpetually severed, allowing for Andrius to take a constant physical, but not so physical form? That way his memory and the memory of his existence would be preserved, would it not? I may very well be wrong, but here's food for thought, I guess! :o

[DrKakentraunElPrestoZimbutsu]

I really hope they add more stuff in theme with Istaroth and Monstadt's legends and myths in Monstadt but I doubt they will since the area is mostly complete. The unnamed island related to Istaroth, the NPC Vind at Strombearer's Point that performs a long lost tradition, Andrius's past and lore, the hilichurl tribes at Dadaupa Gorge, Venti's former self... It all gives a profound sense of mystery, like the allure of a lost legend waiting to be uncovered. "Stories brought on the wind will bloom into legends in due time." That describes whole atmosphere of this place pretty well. Discovering the stories of what are now legends

[OhItsNekoAgain]

I adore this series already, especially because Genshin's lore always comes in waves, you start to "forget" what happened in the past and you don't get all the important, gap-filling information at the same time as you play the story quests. It's a fresh reminder of the amazing world building and lore of Genshin Impact. Thank you! :D

[cryztalqueer]

Nobody told me this when I started playing but it has been helpful. DO NOT USE ALL YOUR FRAGILE RESIN ALL AT ONCE. Use it only for character ascension stuff like bosses. Saves you days of resin honestly. Use your daily resin for artifacts, weapon and talent level up mats. I'm AR 57 and I have 40+ fragile resin.

[Favilein]

I was wondering… the “ascending of Vanessa” could be a saying like we already say something like this to legends our time when they die. Maybe the falcon is just a metaphor for her family which is living in and protecting mondstadt to this day. We met Andrius and Dvalin as one of the winds, but not the falcon (yet).The Titel dandelion knight is passed to mortals ever since and it’s not part of her anymore. Maybe Venti just honored her with a title to remember her and make sure the second freedom is safe, or at least longer than the first freedom.
But if my theory is true… that means that we can doubt that human can ascend to celestia in the first place and Venti tricked the Mondstadtians or at least pushed them to the right direction.

Ahh… Genshin lore is giving me headaches.

[JDawg]

I read the manga back when I just started the game, thinking I could understand the story a bit more. I just ended up more confused until I just forgot about it over the course of new game lore. This video gave us a proper narration of the story prior to and during the beginning of the game, so this is much appreciated!