The Pyro Archons of Natlan - A VERY Speculative Discussion (Genshin Theory and Speculation)

Natlan is one of the seven nations of Teyvat, and is arguably the one we know the least about at this point. In this video, I go over what we know about this nation, as well as my own speculations on Natlan and the Pyro Archons.

Chapters
0:00 - The Pyro Archons of Natlan
0:55 - What We Know
4:18 - Speculations on Natlan
7:30 - The Archons of War
10:28 - Ending Notes

Sources and Further Reading

Thank you so much for watching!

[SiliconOneFour]

Update: I've seen the new lore from the Preload, guess I will be making another Natlan video soon!

[rb]

When the drip marketing for Neuvillette was revealed, the name Xbalanque was dropped. Highly likely Xbalanque is from Natlan due to the cultural ties of said name.

[Sean.A.M]

I have ALWAYS thought it was so odd we never met anyone from there. Cause fairly early on in the game we met someone from each nation. In Mondsadt we meet someone from Snezhnaya, Inazuma (Scara in unreconciled stars event) Sumeru and Liyue. In Liyue we meet people from Snezhnaya, Inazuma, Mondsadt, Sumeru and Fontaine. So odd we have never met or heard anyone speak about anyone from Natlan or Natlan it self. I hope we learn about it in this next update

[billcosbee]

The not-so-surprising knowledge that Natlan has heavy volcanic activity has been around since the Inazuma update. The owner of the hot springs house says it himself, and even built his business off of it. :D

[mybeaniebooz]

Considering there were tribes enslaved by other nations i doubt they would have a high opinion of other nations, especially monstadt.

[sergiogoni]

A long time ago I thought of a cool concept similar to what you theorized!

My idea was that whenever the pyro archon feels its lifespan coming to an end (Or feeling their mind eroding), they would host a huge tournament between the tribes to see who gets the pyro gnosis and becomes next archon. However, at the end when the winner "kills" the pyro archon, they would transfer their consciousness onto the winner, thus "resurrecting" in a new vessel.

The traveler could arrive just as this tournament is starting, and be forced to join just to stop Capitano from getting the gnosis. After defeating him we would win, but refuse to take on the gnosis. Maybe the current archon remains, or someone else is chosen... But in the end the fatui would take the gnosis still.

[readerofalltrades]

It would be cool if Bennett actually has his ancestry from Natlan. His past seems to heavily hint towards Natlan and him being from Natlan would be a nice twist to our preconceived notion that we haven't seen anyone from the nation of Pyro.

[nara-yana]

[7:30] The theory that *Natlan* has had multiple Pyro Archons is corroborated by the *Archons/Hypostases pairing theory* which, if it is right, point to the possibility of *upwards of 8 dead Pyro Archons.* According to it, each Archon has an active Hypostasis associated to it and, if the Archon dies and is replaced, said Hypostasis also breaks down and is replaced.

There two bases for said theory:

*1.* Erosion can be observed on the "older" Hypostases (Anemo, Geo and Electro), associated with "original" Archons (Venti, Zhongli and also Ei, as she ruled together with the deceased Baal), while the "newer" ones (Cryo, Hydro and Pyro) don't show any erosion (The Dendro one shows less erosion than the 3 from "original" Archons, so maybe the "reset" from Rukkhadevata into Nahida has halted it's Hypostasis' deterioration a bit? *Also of note is that the Hydro Hipostasis is the **_only one_** without it's central core shining bright* - dunno why);

*2.* The Hypostases' have "codenames" (that can be seen in combat) which follow the Hebrew/Phoenician alphabet, but do skip entries;
Said "skips" *mostly¹* make sense if we insert a broken, gone Hypostasis of that name to fill each blank, as the order goes:

1st - Electro - Aleph
2nd - Anemo - Beth
3rd - Geo - Gimel
4th - Cryo - Daleth
5th - Hydro - He
_6th - ??? - Waw_ < (either broken or renamed; seemingly Dendro?)
7th - Dendro - Zayin
_8th~15th - ??? - (...) < (possibly all broken; maybe all Pyro?)_
16th - Pyro - Ayin

¹The problems with this ordering part are that we possibly saw Baal's "dead" Electro cube in Inazuma, during a quest (Treasure Hoarders wanted to steal it or something)... and that the Dendro Hypostasis' entry seemingly skips one letter even after the fact that Rukkhadevata didn't really "die" (so maybe the cube just got renamed and reset like her?)... Also, by this order, the current Hydro Archon is still associated with the original Hydro cube? (makes some sense, as this one's core isn't shining and the original archon is _still kinda alive_ as a tree?)... aaand there's also the "fact" that Venti told us only him and Zhongli remain from the original archons - but that was kinda of a lie, as Ei is still alive as the twins were a duo, and Nahida "just" got reset, so yeah)...

[moonhead]

I feel like the Pyro Archon will resemble a phoenix, like a God spirit that gets resurrected by the means of a new vessel every time the current vessel dies.

[aranara_song]

I love Natlan! I'm excited for Fontaine but I'm SO excited for Natlan. I think I'm so hyped based on how much we don't know about the area or the archon. I think from now on esp since we've moved past the middle of the story stuff is gonna get heavy. I'm just so excitedddd

[Moontan]

I love the idea of the pyro archon being replaced so many times
Simply because so far up to sumeru the archons have basically been the same since the archon war, created using the same material (irminsal) in the case of Nahida, or a sibling like raiden though raiden might as well be the same as zhongli or venti since she did take her sister's place occasionally in the past during battles
Ever since venti told us about allogenes and their purpose I've been looking forward to the idea of a vision wielder being an archon potentially
So here's hoping Natlan does that

[francissanchez]

I believe the Pyro Archons true ideal is Hope because Hope is the positive meaning for War which makes War and Hope one and the same

[GReyn]

A theory from my friend is that the Pyro Archon Murata is actually a different version of Himeko from Honkai.. because of the same last name, "Murata"

And that Ressurection thing.. kinda fits with how Himeko is shown throughout Honkai..

Died turning into ashes, and a similar version of her appear in a different world..

So i believe the theory of Murata being 1 archon only, that is being ressurected..
Or something along those lines..

[jyuu]

What would be interesting is to make the Natlan/Snezhnaya Arcs about war. Specifically, between the two nations. For example, the Pyro Archon refuses to give his/her gnosis, and the only one who can match them would be another archon (Cryo Archon), which would eventually lead to war between the two nations. However, that would be the entirety of the Snezhnaya Arc. Instead, the Natlan Arc is a Civil War between all the tribes (I'm guessing there will be multiple tribes) as to whether Natlan, as a whole, should go to war with Snezhnaya. Currently, I imagine Natlan to be divided, so a war would be something that can connect the people of Natlan together...

[voodoomagic]

I may be odd for saying this but for some reason I feel more hyped about the Pyro nation than the Hydro nation and can't wait to see what their Archon and characters will be like ^_^

[winner]

I cant wait for natlan as i myself am african i hope they take great care of the representation and lore

[metalfest]

Just my speculation, but there is a good chance that Natlan was basically hit by a cataclysm. The nation itself is dead for the most part. The damage was done during the khaenri'ah incident or before. The old pyro archon herself either died fighting in khaenri'ah or survived long enough to die in natlan, making a good chunk of the place inhospitable to live in. Some tribes live in the habitable areas with a couple small towns. The rest is volcanic mountains with rainforent/amazon jungle, ruins of the former natlan civilization, and maybe some of the unified civilization ruins under the mountains. All of that is bordered by desert on east side and water on the west side. Maybe a island chain pokes out the main landmass. the current pyro archon either hasn't been born yet, or is running around in the jungle like a wild child, watching over the tribes of whats left of the nation. Think FGO's quetzalcoatl. She shows up now and again to participate in the cultural rituals that keep the tribes unified (tournament arc maybe). Basically Sumeru 2; pyro boogaloo.

Or its something completely different as we have so little on Natlan beyond Vanessa's legacy and interaction with 2 natlan NPCs. Anything else is just speculation based on Mihoyo's game design choices, and themes plus characters from genshin's sister games. And looking at where Mihoyo is taking their inspiration from. A version of Himeko for pyro archon is speculated and that comes with the death, rebirth, and obvious phoenix themes. War and conflict also happens when civilizations break down and is associated with survival, an aspect of nature. I see Hoyo mixing in legends and myths into those themes from the regional cultures they are taking inspiration from.Very likely natlan is where the game gets a lot darker.

[LethaeusSol]

So far, there have been a few similarities between herrschers and archons. Wendy/Venti and freedom, Raiden Mei and Ei with their internal conflict and electricity mastery, Focalors and Seele with duality. I think that the pyro archon will resemble Murata Himeko in things like Love, Passion, mentorship, fighting spirit, and sacrifice.

[asuramaru]

Here are my potential expy's from Honkai Impact 3rd that I think the Pyro Archon could be:

1.) Murata Himeko
2.) Agata
3.) Jackal
4.) Carole Pepper

Great video by the way Silicon!!!

[eludeirkz]

im ok with the blazing heat mechanic showing up, as long as its not the entire zone, i hated exploring dragonspine because of it so i would much rather it be like the zones in Sumeru that you had to revive it was just a short small area of decay.
also im really really really hoping that the archon of Pyro is actually unknown/not decided because the Archon in Natlan are always fighting and getting themselves beaten and our character showing up in Natlan would be helping 1 side become the winner of the war.