The Tsaritsa’s Secrets & Pierro’s Silent War | Genshin Impact Lore & Theories

Pierro is one of the most suspicious characters in the entire story so I took another look into his lore and found some really interesting stuff related to his silent war against Celestia, why the Tsaritsa is rarely seen and what their endgame could be.

Thanks for watching!

Timestamps:

00:00 - 02:56 - Who is Pierro?
02:56 - 05:34 - The Five Sinners
05:34 - 09:31 - Pierro & The Tsaritsa
09:31 - 14:03 - The Jester & The Knave
14:03 - 17:07 - In Praise of Folly
17:07 - 19:05 - The Silent War
19:05 - 20:47 - The Feline Firm
20:47 - 21:49 - Thanks for watching

All music by HOYO-MiX

#genshinimpact #tsaritsa #pierro #hoyocreators

[Necrochaosium]

It's interesting how you talk about the primordial one possibly being an AI, as the line from neuvilettes story says "the usurper had their functions ruined". Which sort of heavily implies that the usurper was a "machine" or procedural program of some sort. This could also be true for the 3rd descender if they were separated into the 7 gnoses, makes more sense to do that to a machine or non-corporal entity like a program with functions.

[AnArtistInAVoid]

I think the idea that the Tsaritza is in hibernation really explains how we’ve seen nothing of the Cryo Archon so far.
But after thinking about it, I would like to propose a different angle than corruption from the Abyss.

Actually, I think the reason for the Tsaritza being in hibernation, that has nothing to do with the Abyss or possible corruption, could be related to the Gnosis.
What if the Tsaritza is trying to harness the true powers of the Gnosis, and become a Descender?
Think about it for a moment. The Tsaritza wants to overthrow heaven, and to that end she would need ability equal to descenders, because the Descenders are the only ones who have the will to challenge the world itself, which is currently under the rule of the Heavenly Principles, which is also confirmed a Descender.
But how do the Gnosis tie back to the plan to become a Descender? It’s simple, the Seven Gnosis is the remains of one. If the Tsaritza could take the powers of the Gnosis and control them, she would realistically be able to usurp the heavens, become the basis of the new order, and as Pierro described it, “love all of humanity and grant their wishes”. Now, this is an act of folly, because what he is trying to do, is create a new order for teyvat while in teyvat, so this aligns with his ideology of the virtues of folly.

I also believe that the Tsaritza has been at the Gnosis consuming business since her agreement to work with Pierro to usurp the heavens, starting with her own Gnosis, because since she had one available, she might as well try taking its powers before she gets her hands on the rest of them right?
But something went wrong.
When Scaramouche came in the possession of the Gnosis, if I rememeber it correctly, it was described as a thing full of hate, pain, malice, and all sorts of other negative emotions, which caused Scaramouche great anguish.
Now that we know the Gnosis is the remains of a Descender, I believe the negative emotions contained in the Gnosis is the will of the dead Descender, and I believe that will is what corrupted the Tsaritza, who probably realized this in her attempt at taking the Gnosis’s power for herself, left everything in her nation in the hands of Pierro based on mutual trust, and encased herself in a tomb of ice and snow so she may attempt to purify the corrupt influence from the Gnosis.
This is also why she is described as having no love left for her people, because her love has been corrupted by the will of the Gnosis.

In the meantime, Pierro would do exactly as the Tsaritza instructed, and build up an army of powerful individuals who shared their ideals to at least some extent, and officially formed the organization known as the Fatui, slowly recruiting the eleven harbingers of it who will bring about the new world that comes with the Tsaritza’s successful usurping and control of the abilities of a Descender.
He also used this while to try find a cure to the Tsaritza corruption in his own way, by using Scaramouche, first studying the abyss, before landing on another possible course of action, building the Tsaritza a now godly form that can handle the corruption just fine.

Remember how the Academia in Sumeru built an artificial god with the help of the Fatui? Well I never really understood why the Fatui would help in this endeavor, since they already have clear unyielding loyalty to the Tsaritza, until I thought of the previously mentioned possibility to save the Tsaritza from corruption from the Gnosis, since the Gnosis itself was a key part of Scaramouche’s god robot working. Dottore also called this incident simply a giant experiment, which also in my mind supports the idea that the end goal was never to make Scara a true god, but rather see if it is possible to elevate a being into a higher form of authority through artificial means, which evidently it is.

As for the Abyss, I believe Pierro would never align himself with it due to one simple reason, which is that he saw what it did to Khaenriah. So instead he turned to another source of power for his army, the remains of the dead gods of the Archon War, which birthed the idea of the Delusions, which power the Fatui’s agents and their abilities.
Actually, the Delusions being a source of power for the Fatui is rather interesting, cuz the other nations of Teyvat definitely would simply use a Gnosis if they wanted to be technologically advanced.
It was the Gnosis which powered both the akasha network in Sumeru, and the machines of Fontaine, tho most of it was by pneuma and ousia reactions, the Gnosis is still proven to be a potent energy generator simply by it being able to collect enough energy to destroy the throne of the hydro archon in the divine order of Celestia.
Which is why I believe that the Fatui aren’t keeping the Gnosis as simply cool ornamental chess pieces, but most likely are saving them for the grander purpose of the Tsaritza using them to power herself up through the faith of the people of Snezhnaya, which is just me repeating previous points about how the Tsaritza probably wants to take the powers of the Gnosis, mainly the ability to gain power from faith, for herself.

Another interesting side note, which is Arlechino’s lapse in memory regarding the second question that was skipped over, I think her memory of it was tampered with, possibly by Pierro simply knowing how the crimson dynasty’s weird blood flame trick worked, because Arlechino’s response to the question wasn’t exactly favorable to his side of things, possibly(and speculatively) even involving Arlechino attacking him.
I think Arlechino realized her memory was tampered with, cuz she isn’t stupid, which is exactly why she is willing to defect from the Fatui with the House of the Hearth if needed.

Also, I think the Tsaritza is still in the picture and aware of what is happening, at least within her nation, because of the end of Signora’s funeral, where she encased in ice, implicatively by the embrace of the Tsaritza.

Anyway, that’s all my thoughts that I could think to organize about this topic.

[alexanderericson]

How aware people are that the celestial fate is "fake" is kind of unknown in game I wonder if the archons know Nahida should be aware after having the conversation with Dottore but there is no evidence yet that the other archons know. Unless you interpret Zhongli's comment about "finding a better way to record history" as proof that he knows that the sky is fake but I think that is a stretch. From what we know is that Rhinedottir is searching for perfection and it also seems like the Sinners want the dragon sovereigns to regain control. While Tsaritsa and the Fatui want the old world to burn. When Pierro says this it sounds like it's personal "I promise you Rosalyn your legacy will be the entirety of the old world" It sounds like he is convincing himself that he cares for her, but his voice betrays that he is the one that wants revenge. She calls her by her first name and he is not using her harbinger title this is significant because he is talking about her as she was before she became the witch of flames. As far as I know Pierro was not a very gifted scholar and the "sages" could refer to Sumeru but he could also refer to the Sinners those that were revered in Khaenri'ah both versions fit which is a conundrum. Paimon has the symbol of triquetra upside down so the game is based around the concept of a reversed order of events. It therefore fits that the Sinners were the gifted sages and now hunted as villains instead. You also have this theme that Durin thought everyone was playing with him and this comes again in Fontaine in the book of revelations the Melusine see the wolf hounds as puppies hinting that there is another version of reality one that the "Sinners" might care about far more.

Arlecchino has a voiceline that she is prepared to go wherever her fate takes her implying that she knows that the celestial constellation fate is not her true path in life.

[ereshie]

I see the laughing man upload, I click instantly.

[BanjoGate]

I sincerely hope that they don't pull the 'the fatui were tricked' card.
I want to see the end game not being the end game. I want some 4D chess.
It would be fine if the fatui failed in their goal. "And then the abyss!" or something, fine. But I really don't want to have the smartest group so far built up in the game get written off by means of a silly trope.

I want to see them fool the world, the divine, or the abyss. I don't want to see them be fooled

[Necrochaosium]

That purple tinted crystal around the coffin could be the equivalent of primordial seawater or phlogistan (primal fire), it would then be primal ice.(which wouldnt be frozen water but some other substance frozen).

[davidjohnson]

The Khaenri'ahns are a metaphor for keeping mentally busy after retirement. You got to have your hobbies, like taking over the world, or you go a bit crazy. Of course most people don't have any retirement worth mentioning and thus become WalMart greeters (Hilichurls).

[Error_Redacted]

This man is really just soo underrated

[audreylo]

9:11 thank you for bringing up that possibility… although I don’t necessarily think it’s true, I still find it so suspicious that our main source of info on pierro’s backstory (mocking mask) is explicitly a speech he’s giving — a narrative he presented to someone, not a more neutral telling of events unlike most other artifacts. from unreconciled stars (scaramouche complaining about the lack of warning about the “sky being fake”) to arlecchino’s character story, it seems that pierro is really someone who values having tight control of information.

[rsstello]

One detail that could tip about the truth about Pierro might be that he propably knew Surtalogi, and maybe Childe getting into the Fatui after being trained by Skirk having more to do with their relationship than we know by now.

[zakfrost]

Great video as always from The Laughing Man.cant wait for more when new lore and natlan drop.

[kotarouinugami]

The thing about Fatui, is that they're getting hyped up greatly. It would be silly if their plan turns out to be worse than those of ancient kings like Remus and Al-Ahmar. Or worse than the cult that Al-Haitam dismantled in his personal quest. Jester may be a fool, but he is not so much of a fool as to not learn from past mistakes.
Moreover, we do know that the Archons aren't really opposed to Fatui's plans. Even serious people like Rex Lapis consider their plan to be something worth cooperating with.
So from a meta perspective, we should expect the Fatui's plan to be at least as good as that of the Hydro Archon Focalors. Probably much better. To have it be corrupted by the Abyss? Well, maybe parts of the plan are, and will require our help. But overall, their plan should succeed or fail on its own merits, while competing with the plans of the Abyss Order and of Celestia.

About the "mist" detail - Pierro may be a mage capable of conjuring mist. It is quite strange to have a "royal mage" in a world where most magic is individual powers granted by Visions or Vision-like objects, so who knows what he can do?
But within the halls of power of Snezhnaya, there should be a different entity who is constantly followed by cold mists - Tsaritsa, the embodiment oo Cryo. It makes perfect sense for her to take interest in her Harbingers.

[trevork]

Great video! I see Pierro as this Rasputin figure manipulating the Tsaritsa, and the more I think of it, he seems to dabble with the fields Hroptatyr and Vedrfolnir are expert at, the whole prophecy and divination from Vedr and perhaps knowledge from Hroptatyr, I wonder if Hroptatyr is like this Grand Sage equivalent of Khaenri'ah's "Akademiya", it would definitely make the most sense with the CN title of Hroptatyr being "The Sage", and perhaps Pierro was even a student of Hroptatyr.

[bluecat]

Me, listening through Bluetooth headphones: “For most people, this would be a sign of madness. And Pierro acknowledges this by naming his-“ *DESKTOP DISCONNECTED*

Me: a bold choice of desktop names

[cloudweaving]

most underrated lore channel! never thought of erasmus but i think this connection is fascinating!

[bia]

I see anyone talking about Pierro I click

[gggoqbl]

No wonder Arlecchino said she'd go against Tsaritsa if she has to.

[biscut]

6:54 it could just be special cryo like how natlan has phlogiston (advanced pyro).

[MarclenChin]

It just seems to me that Pierro's top priority is revenge on celestia for what happened to khaenria...and also the sinners. I feel like the tsaritsa and the fatui are just a means to an end

[InAeternumInDementia]

I really enjoy your videos. They are always really insightful and interesting