[4.7] Of Sinners and Kings - Genshin Impact Lore & Theory

Did you know in some Gnostic sects there aren't just seven archons, but twelve? Seven of them rule the heavens, and five rule the abyss.

Soooo... seven archons and five sinners in Teyvat? How apropos.

**TIMESTAMPS**
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Sinners and Kings
07:58 Rhinedottir
09:19 Surtalogi
10:17 Rerir
13:23 Vedrfolnir
18:24 Hroptatyr
24:01 Alberich

**SPOILER WARNINGS**
(There's footage used from quests up through 4.6, the events of which are not directly referenced through text or audio. Below are the (non-limited) quests that are specifically mentioned.)

- Zhongli Story Quest 2
- Bedtime Story
- Arlecchino Story Quest

**RELATED CONTENT**

**CITATIONS & ATTRIBUTIONS**

[Ashikai]

**NOTES & CORRECTIONS**
- By the by, "Lung" does mean "light" but generally it's in relation to weight. It does, however, also refer to the lungs (organ, shocking), which you can relate to the "heavenly father's breath of life" in the biblical way. A stretch? Probably. The lesson? Never trust a dictionary. Always ask a native speaker.
So unless it's a pun (light in weight = light in optics, which it could be because it's also lung = long, as in shenlong, pun-wise), the name means more like, "a floating fog" so... like a cloud. I dunno that it matters too much for the theory cuz clouds are still pretty heaven/sky and therefore sun-coded, but the correction is warranted regardless.

- Re: Fisher King name origin - this seems to be pretty contested and I didn't go into much detail (since this video isn't really about him or Fischl), but he gets his name from Le Morte d'Arthur where he's called Peschor, Petchere, or Peschour which literally means "fisherman". This is a homynym with the word Pécheur which means "sinner". It's kind of a weird pun-situation, kinda like how the Holy Grail gets called "sangrael" which then gets conflated with sang roial which means royal blood. REGARDLESS of IRL veracity, Hoyo LOVES their wordplay/puns which is why I brought this one up with regards to Fischl.
Just wanted to clear that up!

- I keep calling "The Ring Cycle" Nibelungenlied which is not it's name, but the name of the original epic it's based on. The fact that Wagner made an opera out of this legend IS relevant, but the source material is close enough for our lore-purposes that I hope you can overlook my unintentional overlap.

[bgorno]

"War is coming. Natlan is soon." what a cool line

[Sakuyamon]

Fischl is also Odin coded. One eye, raven companion that gathers info for her.

[cofusiew]

One thing I wanna say about the "7 archons, 5 sinners, 12 in total" is that the elemental reaction namecard which is hinting at there being more elements has space for 12 icons and is missing 5 currently, which would suggest they've been planning this all along.

[CuriusGorg]

“You thought it would be deshret didnt you”
She’s such a troll 💀😭

[Ollie_]

Kaeya’s father being one of the sinners would be so god damn cool

[KingTaltia]

I love how no MATTER how long it's been since she's come up, no matter HOW FAR we go from the start of the game...
EVERYTHING has a connection to Fichl...

[sefeo]

2:51 At first thought "It must be Nibelung, he has ties with the abyss", then after Deshret's image: "Oh right, of course it is Deshret, stupid me", and came all the cycle back. What an emotional rollercoaster

[Truck-kun]

Fun Fact: In the Brazilian Portuguese localization the Vinster King is translated as "King of the Eclipse" ("Rei do Eclipse") which puts more weight on the idea that he was the ruler of Khaenri'ah at the time of the Cataclysm.

[brunetteartist]

2:42
Im convinced when you start editing a video you start with this clip no matter the context of the theory

[alphadawgxx]

The hoyoverse brain rot has me in its clutches because I’m 1000 percent convinced the power the sinners split was a stellaron and thats why teyvat is stuck in a samsara because the memoria has started to leak out and create the upside down world (do not take this seriously this is strictly crack theory hours over here 😂)

[bluecat]

7:16 gave me flashbacks to that theory that Paimon is a messaging system. Can't remember who proposed it but might even be an Ashikai theory.

[rafaelmarinho]

i really read the thumbnail as "Khaennri'ah's Stinkers"

[lordbroccoli]

Five Heroes embarked on a journey to slay the evil dragon.
For honor, the master swordsman.(surtalogi)
For research, the knowledgeable sorceress.(Rhinedottir)
For bounty, the swashbuckling mercenary.(vedrfolnir?)
For vengeance, the deadeye marksman.(rerir)
For stories, the grand novelist.(hroptatyr)
A lotus proceeds from my mouth and flowers bloom on the page. My words are wise and clear and my thoughts are sharp like lightning.
I joined this party because I couldn't find a job, and anybody can be a copywriter.
But I'm no writer, just a regular fellow in his mid twenties without an honest job.

-the tale of dragon slayers

[badistbrother]

@MyNameForNow had a theory that the Book about the 6 Pygmies is an allegory for Dainslief and the 5 other Sinners. It made a lot of sense.

[Dice_]

2:50 I did actually thought it was gonna be Deshret. That was a good one

[henoji]

As I was listening to this great lore a thought came to me that I wanted to sharw: "what if instead of a dark sun it's a black hole? The recent photo of the one in our galaxy + quantum symbol looks kinda like an eclipse..."

A joy to watch as always!

[kiaradoesart]

Something I believe is another clue to the identity of Kaeya’s dad- in the play during his hangout there’s Big emphasis on conflict between father and son, the former wanting war and the latter wanting to make peace. And Kaeya waxes lyrical for quite a while about this father wanting to see the world burn and oh woe is me, does it need to be so etc. So I’m betting that whoever the driving force behind this upcoming war that other characters are alluding to, is Kaeya’s father.

Whether Hroptatyr is that driving force, I guess we’ll find out but personally I’m eyeballing Rerir. The original Rerir in Völsunga saga is one of Odin’s grandsons, and becomes a powerful ruler after avenging his father Sigi. He and his wife then really struggled to have a child until they were sent an apple of fertility by Frigg (Odin’s wife), delivered to them by a giantess that had taken the form of a crow.
So the two big themes attached to the name Rerir is a)vengeance and b)a hard-won son conceived with magical help (also some weird time stuff, as his mother was pregnant for six years???)

[buever]

i really thought back in 2.8 that fischl's domain is inspired by khanriah and the ravens are the greater sinners.

[emiliereal]

14:26 I wanna mention that the twins seem to have symbolism to the sun and moon. One of the biggest pieces of evidence is the swords (more specifically, the sword hilts). Lumine’s is literally shaped as a moon crescent. However, Aether’s is a bit more difficult. I noticed that is straight like a star, or sun rays. There are also details in their designs. Lumine’s hair is more pale and prone to curving in as well as her outfit is mainly white with blue accents, colors associated with the moon. Aether’s hair is more golden and is more prone to pointing straight out. His color palette is dark brown with golden accents, more associated with the sun.

It’s also worth pointing out that the moon is often associated with being female and the sun is more associated with being male. Take Greek mythology as an example.

I don’t know why they seem to have sun/moon symbolism, but one theory I have is the Eclipse dynasty since a sun and moon make an eclipse. If anyone has anything to add to this, please do.