[v2.3] The Rhinestone Alchemist (World Structure Part 4) - A Genshin Impact Theory

A somewhat scattered analysis on Rhinedottir, the hidden lore and inspirations in Genshin, plus a little speculation.

This video is primarily for context for part five which will attempt to tie all four previous parts of World Structure Theory together.

-- TIMESTAMPS --
0:00 Introduction
1:10 Disclaimer
2:15 Rhinedottir
5:50 Das Rhinegold
7:44 Solomon's Seal
11:15 "Chess"
16:20 Ragnarok
20:45 Aaron and the Ark
29:00 The Primordial
34:54 Outro

-- World Structure Theory Playlist --

-- SOME SOURCES/FURTHER READING --
**Please note: the list below does not reflect my full list of references, but instead a list of some selected references that I think people will actually read if they're interested. If you feel like something is missing, please feel free to ask for more references in the comments!**

Schwan's Twitter

Breastplate of Aaron + Gems

Ark of the Covenant

Solomon + Ars Goetia

Rhinestones + Rhine River + Glassblowing

Arianrhod

Nyoirin Kanon

Breathing Life

Gnosticism

The Ring Cycle (Das Rhinegold)

Tafl

Ragnarok

Genshin Wiki
**note** The timeline page has most of the references for early Teyvat history cited already.
**note** I can't find the source for calling the spiral abyss a Labyrinth. It's in my notes, but uncited. Leaving this note as a placeholder in the event that I find it.

[Ashikai]

**NOTES**
- Quick Correction: Lapis Lazuli doesn't exactly dissolve in water, but it is highly reactive with water and should generally avoid contact with it. It's not like Malachite, so that was a poor choice of words. Lapis Lazuli is technically made up of lazurite, calcite and pyrite, the latter two should not be exposed to water as they will break down and can be quite toxic. The gem itself is also slightly porous in its raw form and can end up acting somewhat soluble in water as a result. What's happening is that the calcite, pyrite and lazurite are just separating from each other.
This also means that the gem referenced here is likely JUST the lazurite component and not lapis lazuli as a gem.

[darkneko]

Fun fact: the Rhinemaidens are called Rheintöchter in German.
Another, more literal, translation would be Rhinedaughters
Rhinedaughter
Rhinedottir

[hazaubel]

Can we all agree that ashikai's voice is so good for storytelling ✨👌

[xxlegendxx]

"godess of doorways and borders" i mean paimon is the one that tells us to go back when we reach the border ingame.

[eggnogtea]

The connection between the gnosis and a ring makes the final form of the statues of the seven all the more interesting.

[delphynenull]

Highly entertaining that Ashikai got absolutely lost in the sauce about the moon sisters and biblical connections and the chess set, and then remembered “wait how does that relate to Rhinedottir exactly”

[Owlettehoo]

Hmmm... There are three Rhine Maidens. We know that Alice, Mona's master, and Rhinedottir are basically a coven. There are three of them. What if they're the Rhine Maidens? 👀

[TheCheeseman]

I really like your Ragnarok angle! It got me thinking: who could those “old” gods have been? Then I thought back to a dev interview a way back where they discuss the significance of artifacts in the game. They mentioned that each artifact represents a concept: Flower = Life, Feather = Death, Timepiece = Time, Goblet = Space, and Circlet = Mind. There are five artifacts, which we obtain by rejuvenating petrified trees, which have five crowns hanging above them. Celestia also seems really keen on destroying said trees, and doesn’t like humans interacting with them.

There are also five circular symbols at the very top of the domain tablets, with the central one also seeming to extend downward into a symbol that can be found in the design of the Ubiquity Net. Ubiquity, of course, being synonymous with “omnipresent”. Interestingly, the central artifact is the one representing time, the god of which seems to have mysteriously vanished from Teyvat, at some point.

Perhaps the Irminsul contain the essences of one or more dead/sealed “primordial gods” that Celestia really doesn’t want to see revived/released? Perhaps because these are the gods that whomever founded Celestia overthrew in order to create their sealed utopia, and whose stolen power they now use to control it?

In the manga, when Vanessa asks Venti about Celestia, he alludes to several Earth mythologies in which a god’s body is used to create the world. What if Teyvat is actually created from the god of time?

[knochenmotte]

The 13 pieces in Tafl work really well with the namecard: "Achievement: Colors of the Rainbow". The namecard depicts the seven currently known elemts, but the way they are place, they leave 5 empty spots.

[mountain]

I am half joking about this, but you said the rod, two rule tablets and a pot of manna was put in the ark. Manna is, to my knowledge, a form of sustenance that feeds the body and soul. Point being, our favorite travelling companion is a glutton, and maybe by finding this manna, it will fill the black hole she has for a stomach and restore her to power.

[PieaterProducts]

Here's some ideas with fun implications:

What if the Katherynes are all puppets like the Shogun and Scaramouch? She has a keyhole on the back of her neck, talks in computer when idle and none of them ever leave their post or become managers. Even in Mondstadt, where NPCs walk around and talk with each other, Katheryne is left alone to stare blankly forward until her services are required.

What if Aether and Lumine are 'creations' of Gold? All we know about them is that they arrived in Teyvat in the form of shooting stars before the Cataclysm, the chosen sibling was asleep up until the fall of Khaenri'ah and were sealed away for "the arrogation of mankind". The arrogance of man, when the travelers claim to be stars. So what if they landed in Khaenri'ah and were researched by Gold, who had an interest in the memories preserved inside? She would have transmuted the memories of the first star into the form of our sibling and only finished the player shortly before Celestia descended upon the secular nation.

If each archon is a chess piece with Celestia being their king, the disposable allogenes would be the pawns. However, in the event one of the useful pieces is killed, it can be replaced by a pawn. A pawn that has to reach the other end of the board. To reach the full power of an allogene in game, we must ascend them, or move them forward, six times. Just like a pawn.

[tayloravery]

Btw if u want to call ventis gemstone core a cut u can always say it's a cabochon cut. That's how most gems/nice looking rocks that usually can't be cut like zhonglis square cut is. Usually cabochon cuts are circular/oval which matches ventis and yes turquoises usually are cabochon cut, if fact u could say that ventis particular brand of turquoise is similar to that of a "sleeping beauty turquoise" where there is just the colour of turquoise with no inclusions. Kinda fits for venti who has a history of sleeping for a very long time

[okaythenn]

This is a bit of a stretch but if Dainsleif is a sword (due to his name being the same as a sword in Norse mythology as well as him being called the twilight sword) and also the second heir who’s story is stated in the gnostic chorus, he could have been the sword Kaeya’s grandfather picked up. Kaeya said it fell from the sky or celestia and this would make sense as Dainsleif coming to Teyvat would most likely be him descending to it, which to the people of Teyvat (like Kaeya’s grandfather) would look like a gift from celestia. Another variable is that Dainsleif was spiritually connected with the sword that we see him holding in the gnostic chorus. Like ei to makotos sword, Dainsleif’s soul could have been residing in his sword. And perhaps when he was descending to Teyvat he ran into celestia and was forced to part ways with his sword or accidentally did so for some reason we don’t know about yet. Which then Kaeya’s grandfather found and brought to K’hanriah with Dainsleif’s body (without a soul) following him in hopes to find his soul/sword which would later lead to him to becoming one of the royal guards of the last dynasty of K’hanriah.

As stated before, Dainsleif is called the Twilight Sword. Twilight is the mid way between day and night when the earth’s surface is neither completely lit nor dark like Yin and Yang ☯️ (and yes I copied that definition from Wikipedia). The darkness could represent celestia’s taint on him (with his clothes being similar to paimon’s and similar to the ones venti fears in the manga whereas the light could represent his noble origins coming from a different world or maybe even the fact that he’s human.

This is all just words on a page and has some holes in it, like if Dainsleif was part of Khanriah at least 500 years ago why would Kaeya’s grandfather be there and to that I say, yea idk either 🤡. Maybe kaeya could have been lying to us? He has done so before… anyway thanks for reading this I hope some parts of this has some merit in future stories.

[EduardoWeidmanBarijan]

Well with Enkanomiya been releasing in 2.4, I think you will need to make a part 5 of this series. And probably when Sumeru goes out, more parts. Enkanomiya seems very interesting and relevant for the lore and structure. The developers said themselves in the livestream that "it is in Teyvat but doesn't seem to be from the same world" and they also called it the abyss of Teyvat. Oh right, and the region is based on the concepts of lightness and darkness.

[TheTrickyable]

Really really wish this was a podcast series. The story telling and BG music are so good

[Tchofi]

Always found interesting how the night login theme is called Dream Aria, thinking the Aria in the name was just a word for 'song', but with the big moon in the background, I'm starting to think it might be referring to Aria herself.

According to an article mihoyo made a while ago about the development of the login theme, one of the things they tried was having lyrics for the night theme, to make it sound like a religious chanting, with the words themselves having no meaning, but the very first word in said lyrics was "Aria".

[ok]

In one of your vids you mentioned that albedo is a creation trying to emulate the traveller, In this vid you mentioned that the primordial god can control all elements, which the traveller can do so Rhinedotter trying to create the primordial god basically means that she tried to create the traveller. And the traveller is the primordial god.

[loreenjoyer]

I think Rhinedottir needs all of the rhinegold, all gnoses to complete the Primordial Human Project and Tsaritsa and the Fatui are siding with her, stealing all the gnoses to complete this project. Overthrowing celestia is a necessary part, as they have 5 of the 13 gnoses. Albedo could also be a catalyst to get to the final product, idk

[leolencheski]

I once saw a theory that Dainsleif could be one of albedo's brothers so like:

Dainsleif - blackness
Albedo - Whiteness
Klee - Redness

I think that would be kinda funny

[khrow]

As much as I love all of these ideas and they make a lot of sense and feel highly plausible I can't shake the feeling that Genshin's real story is more straight forward and simple and not nearly as cool as anything we would come up with. I just get this feeling all of us are overthinking it. That said in my head I will believe it us more intricate and complex because it is more fun until the game proves other wise. So far I feel like all the different theory videos I've seen are pointing to a similar point. One that I feel like you are hitting closest to and I want to be the actual lore of the game.