Genshin started off this year with their 2.4 Update on January 4, 2022, introducing the new five star Shenhe, as well as opening a brand new region below the depths of Inazuma: Enkanomiya. 

But this region is unlike any other. Although we have had off-Teyvat regions like the Golden Apple Archipelago, we have never seen a dark, domain like-city in ruins in our open world. Enkanomiya would also be the first permanent region outside of Teyvat. But what’s best about the update is how it finally gives us lore-lovers some answers to the many questions we’ve had for months now.

Enkanomiya Lore 

If you do not know the lore and backstory of Enkanomiya I highly recommend watching this video as it describes everything you will need to know in great detail:

But if you do not have the time, I will do my best to summarize it as best as possible. 

“ 2500+ years ago (around the time of the Archon War), a group of people were stranded on the bottom of the ocean floor named as the “Yuna Clan”. Kokomi is a living descendant of this clan. This place is known as Enkanomiya and the people of this clan lived in complete fear and darkness. They were only able to survive due to the light of “Oohirume no Omikoshi” (this is the light we see in the game). One day a young boy discovers a giant serpent and asks it to be their god. The serpent agreed and followed the boy back to Enkanomiya and was named “Orobaxi” by it’s people. Suddenly, Celestia asked Orobaxi to come to the surface…and Orobaxi, feeling guilty for never participating in the Archon War, agreed willingly. Thus, using his body to create the island of Watatsumi Island. However, since the island is artificial it could not be used for farming or growing food. So, the people of Watatsumi were dying from hunger and disease. But nevertheless, they were grateful for Orobaxi. So, Orobaxi asked the people of the east to lend some fertile land so they could survive. But as we know, the land of the east belonged to the Raiden Shogun and she would not give in. Orobaxi knew he would die if he invaded her land but the people of Watatsumi were clueless. Yet, Orobaxi trained the people and created an army to invade Yashiori Island. In the end, he was killed by Raiden as expected. 

Afterwards, Tatarigami (curse) generated from Orobaxi’s death and the Raiden Shogun had to seal it off. Yet, the people of Inazuma found merit to the artificial island and began mining for materials such as Crystal Marrow to build weapons. However, the people of Watatsumi were furious at the Inazuman people for exploiting the body of their god and thus began another war. After the war ended, the Shogunate finally signed a treaty with Sangonomiya to stop illegal mining. Even today the people changed their names to the people of Narukami. But hidden within it’s realm, secrets and the truth about Celestia were hidden and sealed away from everyone. “

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Celestia is Evil Theory 

So, as you can see, Celestia is a lot more sinister than we first believed and quite vengeful too. Not only has Celestia led Enkanomiya and its people to destruction but we can start to see Teyvat for it’s more sinister underlining that we haven’t noticed before. 

Visions: Gift or Curse?

For example, visions are something that has been introduced to us in the game from the very beginning. In fact, it has always been an end-goal of our Traveler to master all seven elements despite being visionless. 

Visions, also referred to as the “eye of god” and are regarded as favors bestowed to those whose ambition surpasses a certain point in their life. (reference from Twitter @khaenrian) 

However, there are exceptions. Visions cannot be destroyed but can deactivate if the original wielder dies and later reactivated with someone else. As explained by Ei, archons do not grant visions, visions are granted by
“another side” which is most likely Celestia. 

Although some characters are indifferent to having visions (e.g. Albedo, Mona, Ningguang). Some outright detest them (initially Keqing). 

As of the Inazuma Archon Quest, to lose a vision a person also:

• loses their ambition/motivation entirely
• loses their memories (Tejima, Kurosawa)
• suffer Hallucinations (Domon) 

However there are also instances when a person relinquishes their visions entirely (Jiangxue, Nobumori), for a period of time (Diluc), or have them taken (Arataki Itto), but do not show the aforementioned negative effects. 

So, is it really a blessing to have been gifted with a vision? 

The Sky is Fake

Looking back at 1.1 Unreconciled Stars event with Scaramouche has often quoted that the stars are “a lie”, it may have more merit than it first appeared. After the introduction of Enkanomiya, a world outside of Teyvat’s Map and beyond Celestia’s reach, we can finally get a glimpse of some answers to the Genshin Lore Universe. Because if the sky and stars are indeed fake, it confirms the Teyvat’s False Sky Theory. 

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One key evidence that helps to prove this theory is something we see in the game everyday, the moon. More specifically, the moon always appears to be a Full Moon with no phases or lunar cycles. At first, many disregard this detail as a glitch or something that went unnoticed by Mihoyo’s devs. However, we should all know by now, that nothing is pure coincidence in Genshin and everything is made for a reason. 

Another odd observation is how sometimes the moon would even appear in front of Celestia, which shouldn’t be possible if the moon was real and Teyvat was an actual planet with the moon revolving around it. Also the stars that we see throughout the game appear to be in a very particular Mandala-like pattern. Making the sky look almost like a dome placed on top of Teyvat. 

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More interestingly enough, during the “Infinite Path” loading screen when first starting the game, a moon appears in the night sky. But how can this be? This is quite odd because technically when entering the door, it is supposed to be an entrance to Teyvat, yet the moon is both inside and out of Teyvat? So, unless the moon in the loading screen and the one in-game are different realms, we shouldn’t be seeing the same moon.

Thus proving the possibility of the sky being a “fake”.

This also alludes to the concept that Teyvat may actually be upside down, and the rest of the world outside of it is right side up.  Meaning that the true sky can only be seen in the abyss. For example, reading the text from the Spiral Abyss it uses the words “descending” despite users literally “going up” the stairs…

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So, if all of the stars, moon and sky in Teyvat are fake, the higher you go up in the abyss, the closer we are to the “real” sky.  

There are also many references to the Moon throughout the game to further emphasize its importance:

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This also makes the ‘Archons Named after Demons in Ars Goetia’ theory make more sense because the archons are inherently working with Celestia and therefore part of the evil. 

>>CLICK here to read more about the Archon Theory if you’d like to know more about it

Why are Genshin Impact Archons Named After Demons Theory 2021

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A World Beyond Teyvat 

Enkanomiya is not part of Teyvat, as shown on the map, meaning Enkanomiya is part of the Dark Sea (refers to any region/location beyond the continent of Teyvat) so it does not have a Statue of the Seven since the laws of Teyvat do not apply here. 

As of now, Teyvat only has seven regions each with their corresponding Element and Archon: 

Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, Cryo. 

However, if you also love reading the Genshin lore theories, you may already be aware of two or more other possible elements:

Time (Chrono) and the Abyss

Long ago, in the land of Mondstadt, people worshiped two archons: Those being the God of Wind and the God of Time. This Master of Time was revealed to be named Istaroth in Mondstadt and Kairos in Enkanomiya. She once ruled alongside Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, however for unknown reasons, her worship and knowledge of existence were completely erased and forgotten forever. (most evidently purposely erased by Celestia) 

^People in Enkanomiya tried to preserve her through phrases such as “the winds of time”. Never even speaking her true name, but writing it backwards as “Htoratsi”.

But otherwise has been forgotten by all people of Mondstatdt. 

Even now there are still many mentions and references to the element of Time throughout the game. One of the most notable ones being Paimon herself and the ability to control time in the game. 

This also alludes to the God of Time being the King piece according to the Genshin Chess Theory since she worked alongside and was the closest to the Anemo Archon who is already confirmed to be the Queen chess piece. 

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^For the Full Image and original article visit: https://www.hoyolab.com/article/278518

Now, as for abyssal powers, that is rooted to the lost region of Khaenri’ah which is where the Abyss Order originates from. Khaenri’ah was a nation of humans with no visions, powers, or achon. So, they created war machines and “khemia” which is an advanced type of alchemy (same one used by Rhinedottir to create the first ever successful synthetic human: Albedo) to defend themselves. 

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However, Khaenri’ah was attacked and destroyed by the gods of Celestia due to the practice of Khemia which sought to create even more powerful creatures. Which turned and corrupted many of the inhabitants into monsters of the abyss…

Today this event is known as the “Cataclysm” and led to the end of the Eclipse Dynasty, the last kingdom to ever rule Khaenri’ah. 

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Knowing this, the introduction of Enkanomiya is that much more important to the future of Genshin’s story because it gives us the first glance at what a place outside Teyvat looks like.  Maybe even a glance at what happened to Khaenri’ah and a preview of what we have to explore someday. 

But that isn’t all. What if there were even more elements outside of the nine we just mentioned. Besides for it to really be a Chess game, there needs to be two sets of the main eight pieces (excluding pawns). 

Here are other possible elements in the Genshin Universe:

*For these predications I’m going to continue using Ancient Greek etymology for our element’s names 

Void/Space (Cosmos) = Sustainer God of Heavenly Principles 

= ability to create and manipulate space 

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Light (Lumino) = MC Traveler 

= ability to absorb or control other elements? similar to how Traveler is able to use other elements easily without a vision. 

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Dark (Erebos/Chaos) = MC Traveler sibling

= ability to curse and corrupt beings *although this “dark” element might just be the abyssal power in another advanced form, since the sibling is the leader of Abyss Order

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Another note is concerning Dainsleif, as his powers may also originate from the abyss. However, something tells me his powers are a bit different. Although he is also from Khaenri’ah, his powers are blue unlike the dark purple matter that most abyssal matter appears to be. 

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With the 1.4 Update, we can finally have a closer look into what his powers may be. Firstly, Dansleif’s body seems to be covered with blue like stripes or veins that also glow when he is using his power. So it may very well be a variation of the abyssal element, similar to how the Abyss Heralds and Mages are still able to manipulate some of Teyvat’s seven elements (Hydro, Cyro, Electro, and Pyro). 

Also, it is worth mentioning that there have been other elemental Archons in Teyvat, such as the God of Dust and the original Dendro Archon, the God of Wood. But, I find these elements to be more subcategories of the main seven, so I do not believe it is worth giving those titles it’s own element. 

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Future Foreshadowing

Hanging Statue of Seven

With all of this information, it brings light to some sinister events in older updates. One being the upside down Statue of Seven back in the 1.4 Update. It can’t be a coincidence that the hanging statue is Barbatos, the Anemo Archon. Also eerily similar to “The Hanged Man”, a famous tarot card symbolizing, “…ultimate surrender, sacrifice, or being suspended in time.”

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All of this points to a possible foreshadowing of Venti being the “Ultimate Sacrifice” 

But maybe, the specific statue isn’t what’s important, but actually what the statue itself represents. Whoever hanged the statue upside down in the first place was most likely someone in the Abyss Order. So, of course the Abyss would want to deface and corrupt the object that has a direct connection to Celestia somehow, since it is the main source of character’s energy, teleport, and healing.

Paimon’s Betrayal 

The next foreshadowing comes from the latest 2.4 Main Quest found in Enkanomiya. As we learn the true identity of “Enjou”, he is revealed to the Pyro Abyss Herald. One scene that caught my attention was him mentioning the possibility of Paimon betraying us in the future…

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Because as you know, if Genshin has taught us anything, it is that nothing is ever a coincidence.

With Sumeru (the land of Wisdom) being the next region we explore, I can’t help but feel even more excited for all the clues and mysteries about the Genshin Universe we are about to uncover.  

Thank you so much for reading! Comment down below your thoughts about any of these theories below