Paimon's Truth - Is Paimon Lying About Her Past? | Genshin Impact Theory

In this Genshin Impact theory I'll discuss what has changed in my way of thinking regarding Paimon's past and why I believe we can finally confirm whether or not Paimon has been lying to the traveler or not.

#Paimon #genshinimpact #sumeru #Nahida

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[GaaraSama]

This didn't just happen to the Aranara and Nahida. Gouba also sacrificed memory and life force as the Stove God, so it's a running theme throughout Teyvat and makes sense with Paimon as well.

[Iavasechui]

I think she shrank twice. Once thousands of years ago when the Scarlet King incident happened (Nahida even says that the Scarlet King died long before Rhukadevata), and that the form she took was not completely a child yet, she became an archon after this event not before. This is why the statue of the seven is too small to be Rhukadevata but too large to be Kusanali, it was based on her form when she became an archon. But 500 years ago in the cataclysm she used her powers again to protect but this time she used up all her memories and was now in her child form.

[realrahzz]

Paimon did intentionally denied going into room which shows the past in chasm. I recon she could very well be hiding her past.

[Blanche_Lumiere]

Finally he Realised that his YouTube channel is a genshin lore channel

[ben-taobeneton]

One line stood out to me the most in this game: _"To unlock the truth of this world."_
✨I think Paimon is *THE TRUTH - THE KEY* of this world. ✨

[darkomiku]

2:39 King Deshret's case is separate from the Cataclysm event 500 years ago. It is heavily implied that Nahida was the result of an even more straining use of her powers in the cataclysm than helping King Deshret combating forbitten knowledge. First time she lost her adult form, then, without even fully recovering, she used all of herself, her form and memories.

[lnsflare]

I'm pretty sure that the Scarlet King's death was around the time of the Archon War, considering that his modern era followers argue that Rhukkadevata betrayed him to become an Archon and usurp his title as the God of Wisdom, which would be weird if he died thousands of years after she became the first Dendro Archon and right as she was replaced by Kusanali. Especially since she didn't seem to have become as young as Nahida currently is (which, if they are in fact the same person, makes sense since whatever it was that happened in the Cataclysm seems like it was probably way more powerful than whatever the Scarlet King was sealing away) in that cutscene.

[Mentleif]

I feel that Paimon is a Seelie. The game has been outright suggesting it a lot recently with dialogue. While I won't say that her being a Seelie and a shade of Istaroth are mutually exclusive, a lot of the points people use to say that Paimon is the God of Time were disproven in a really great video by CatWithBlueHat. I think she and the Traveler met in a part of Monstadt we haven't been to yet as they had been traveling prior to when we first take control of the Traveler and the scenery where the Traveler fishes up Paimon doesn't match anywhere in current Monstadt, let alone where we start the game. Likewise, Paimon doesn't pause time in Domains, coop, story quest dungeons, nor the story (it definitely would have been helpful back when the Raiden Shogun was about to strike the Traveler down).

[cuteimmin]

Now we all know that nahida is reborn because of “curse” knowledge, but the main question is, “What it has a connection with kkhaenriah war?”

[DreamTiger]

That Nahida is Rukkhadevata is such a tragic irony; the god that the sages adores so much is right in front of them, but they don’t make the connection and mistreat her as an inferior replacement.

There are memes suggesting Paimon is actually the unknown god, but the god of time makes much more sense. Either way will be interesting if we ever get more info.

[DainMon]

I have believed Paimon to be related to the god of Time for over 2 years now and with every new piece of lore we get it seems to become more and more likely. Good for me! Guess I wont ever need to rename my channel

[QuillStroke]

I think Paimon was The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, look at her hair clip and then back at the portal she came out of in the opening cinematic.

[dumbdumbdani]

I don't think Paimon has completely lost her memory, but I do believe she's withholding details about her past. Somewhere in the Aranara quest she mentions how before she met the traveler, her life was pretty bland, she wasn't happy or sad, but after she met the traveler her life is exciting and happy. Her saying this definitely means she remembers at least SOMETHING about her past., even if its just emotions,

[hybridsnake]

There's an error at 2:40 into the video, that is actually covered in the 3.2 Archon quest: You mentioned that G.L. Ruukadevata gave her life saving King Deshret's people 500 yrs ago, but the Archon quest states that she helped save them thousands of yrs prior. The actual time of her sacrifice was 500 yrs prior to current events, but it was during the cataclysm of Kaenriah. I'm afraid your timeline is skewed, sir.

[AnArtistInAVoid]

As much as I like a lot of this channel’s, and other genshin lore theorist’s theories, I personally think that Rukkhadevata and Nahida, as people, are completely different.

I am willing to entertain the thought that they might share a body, but they are completely different in individual identity.

Exhibit A: Nahida’s confinement.
Nahida wouldn’t have been imprisoned and essentially abandoned by the Akademia, had Nahida simply had the Divine Wisdom of Gods, that the Akademia idolizes.

Now you might argue that Nahida didn’t have Rukkhadevata’s memories, and thus lacked in the wisdom of Rukkhadevata. To this I present

Exhivit B: Nahida’s lack of Rukkhadevata’s memories.
In the Aranara quest it is mentioned that losing memory is essentially like dying. This would mean that if Rukkhadevata did lose all her memories, that would mean that Rukkhadevata is dead. Plain and simple.
Nahida might be in the body of the late Rukkhadevata, but I am sure that this hardly affects her identity as Nahida.

In addition to all this, I would like to present

Exhibit C: Guoba
Guoba, confirmed to be born from what remains of a god in Liyue’s past, is definitely not that same god anymore. Guoba now is just a spicy bear, living in absolute ignorance and bliss.

[SagaTheFunniest]

4 nations in and the traveler still hasn’t seriously questioned just what is Paimon?

[Ainzel_Klien]

I personally think that Paimon might just be a living seelie rather than a God of time because it makes sense that Paimon would be similar to a seelie in guiding us thru the world of teyvat.

[konomiru]

You seem to of missed that rukkhadevata sacrificed her power and some memory to save deshrats kingdom around when the goddess of flowers died. This was BEFORE the archon wars so over 2000yearsago. In the trailer she has the form of a teenager (like fischl) bur was still herself. 500 years ago she went to 'heal irminsul' with makoto during the cataclysm/ khanria event using all her power returning again smaller to a child form with no memory. Same as gouba did when he first decided himself up then again lost more power later.

[LightningAlchemist]

I believe there were actually TWO instances of Rukkhadevata "shrinking". First was during the Archon War (2000+ years ago) when she saved the people of King Deshret. That time she remembered he former life, and carried her memories forward. In the priest's dream, she looks much older post shrinkage. However during the Cataclysm (500+ years ago) she gave away all her power and knowledge (similar to Aranara) to save the world/Irminsul and that left her with Nahida's current form where she had no knowledge or strength of her former self. The sage's interpreted what was left here (Nahida) as a different person from her former self (no wisdom, lack of power etc) that they only thought of preserving what is left of her in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.

I definitely think this story beat is going to be repeated with Paimon as well, as the last time we saw this was with Guoba but that was an event where things can or cannot be considered canon to the lore. In Gouba's case he still remembered Zhongli to some extent.

More Speculation: I think the Sages have this mentality of preserving Nahida in whatever form she is left in and try to save irminsul themselves without putting her in more danger. She has after all saved Sumeru multiple times at this point and has barely any power left so there might be this idea of the Sages to try to act without her involvement this time around and they are getting super desperate at this point which shows their "evil" actions recently... or atleast that's what I think the story indicates to some extent. We shall see with version 3.2 if i am right on this or not..

[ChaosFlute]

I see that other people have already brought up the complications regarding the timeline with Nahida. But that doesn't really affect the implications for Paimon. It's great to have you back!